ENGL 101

11/12/18

AIDS and Eddie Murphy’s Delirious

During the 1980’s AIDS became an epidemic that gripped the entire world. Little was

known about AIDS and the virus (HIV) that caused AIDS and as a result there was

understandable fear of the disease. Early on there was evidence to support that the disease was

common amongst homosexual men and as a result there was discrimination and violence as this

group was singled out. AIDS was a global epidemic and people did not have a good

understanding of what it was and how it could be acquired. The fear of AIDS was a global

conversation and at the same time, entertainers and comedians used the attention and fear of

AIDS to develop relatable films, books and jokes. Eddie Murphy developed AIDS and

homosexual related jokes as part of his Delirious stand-up routine and suggested that simply

kissing a gay man on the cheek would result in acquiring AIDS. While this content was

entertaining to his fans, Eddie Murphy portrayed homosexuality as the cause of contracting the

infection that causes AIDS when in fact the disease can be acquired in numerous ways.

Murphy’s humor was light-hearted to some and offensive to others and based on available

information about AIDS at that time and the fear in society of the disease. This is not uncommon

as people always tends to be fearful of things that they do not completely understand.

A significant issue during the AIDS outbreak of the 1980’s was the discrimination and

bias toward homosexual men that had acquired this disease. Society and the media lacked good

information about AIDS and its origin and comedians took advantage of the visibility of the

disease and created material that was relevant to the discussion. The facts that supported the

origin of AIDS and ways in which it could be contracted were still in question, but the public
conversation created a stereotype that homosexual men were exclusively to blame for the

epidemic. Stand-up comedian and Hollywood actor Eddie Murphy made headlines in 1983

during his Delirious tour by performing five minutes of material focused on homosexual men.

Murphy shared that “faggots” were not allowed to look at him on stage and that he was

“petrified...and had nightmares about gay people.” He joked that having gays as friends “is scary

because of that new AIDS shit. AIDS is scary because it kills” people. Murphy implied that

homosexual men were the reason for the outbreak of AIDS. He suggested that women prefer

“gay men” as friends because there is no sexual pressure in the relationship. He further said that

a woman might kiss her gay friend on the cheek and will “go home with AIDS on her lips.” The

story continues when the same girl’s husband goes to the Doctor years later and finds out he has

AIDS. Murphy acting as the husband says “AIDS? But I’m not a homosexual.” Murphy, now

portraying the Doctor says “Sure you’re not a homosexual.” (Murphy 08:44) Murphy plays on

the fear of his fans, and perhaps his own fear of AIDS while making light of the situation based

on the information available at the time. Murphy further implies that homosexual men were

responsible for transmission to “straight people.” Stand-up comedians will do whatever it takes

to entertain their audience and the facts never get in the way of a funny story. Sam Kinsion was

another comedian who capitalized on the fear of the misunderstood AIDS epidemic and made

light of homosexual men and animals in his routine about the disease. Kinison said that

homosexual men brought the disease to the human race by stating, “the spread of HIV from

animals to humans on the propensity among homosexuals for “screwing monkeys” (Goldstein

303) There continued to be a lack of good information and research about AIDS and Kinison,

like Murphy, played on society’s fear of the disease. An unintended consequence was how the

homosexual community was portrayed in the conversation since there are numerous ways that
people of any sexual orientation can acquire the disease. These examples show that any

comedian is focused on entertaining and not necessarily the facts. On the other hand, it also

exposed a fear of AIDS and in some cases homosexuality and an insecurity about sexual

preference and identity. The culture of the 1980’s during the AIDS outbreak promoted this topic

publicly and explains why comedians saw it as an opportunity.

Eddie Murphy and other comedians, in their own words, created hilarious material about

a topic that was on every person’s mind during the 1980’s and certain homophobic jokes and

even the discussion of gay men was not taboo at that time.. In 1982 the CDC discovered that the

result of all cases of AIDS was death. The main hotspots for the disease were in San Francisco

(large homosexual male community), Los Angeles and New York City. The disease was referred

to as the “gay disease or gay plague” (Khan Academy) which was misinterpreted by the entire

nation and homosexual men themselves. They saw it as a danger to them while the rest of the

country assumed that homosexuals solely responsible. It is clear to see that people like Eddie

Murphy would perform homophobic jokes with a focus on AIDS since comedians always prefer

to use recent news topics and events to attract a crowd and to bolster their routine and their

audience. Lost on many comedians at the time was that AIDS was also discovered to be

contracted in many other ways. It was stated that, “HIV may be contracted through blood,

semen, pre-ejaculate, vaginal fluids and breast milk. (It cannot be transmitted through saliva,

tears, sweat, or urine.)” (Khan Academy) As more information became available about AIDS it

became clear, contrary to Eddie Murphy’s routine, that unprotected sexual contact between

homosexual men where one was infected was not the only way to contract the AIDS virus. In

1982 and 1983, gay rights activists bravely took to the streets and protested the unfair treatment

by promoting safe sex education programs for everyone and successfully countered the
negativity with important action. There were many instances that stood out where people who

had AIDS were discriminated against. In 1985 one of the most prominent stories was about a

13-year-old boy named Ryan White who acquired the disease through a blood transfusion and

was expelled from his school soon thereafter. Upon learning of Ryan’s condition, parents and

students of the school spoke publicly that they feared he would pass AIDS onto classmates by

continuing to attend the school. It was already proven at this time that AIDS could not be

transmitted through casual contact. Ryan Gates died in 1990 at the age of 18. Other notable cases

included Hollywood actor Rock Hudson, a homosexual man, who passed away in 1985. Hall of

Fame Tennis star Arthur Ashe revealed in 1992 that he had acquired AIDS through a blood

transfusion. He passed away in 1993. Former Los Angeles Lakers star Magic Johnson suddenly

retired from basketball in 1991 after announcing that he had acquired HIV, the virus that causes

AIDS. Johnson lives a healthy and active life to this day thanks to advances in science and

medicine that have helped him to manage his illness. There are countless documented cases of

AIDS being acquired from the sharing of drug needles which has been a common practice of

intravenous drug users. In reality, there are many ways that AIDS can be contracted proving that

the success of Eddie Murphy and other comedians and their material about AIDS was all about

the information available at the time and their ability to make light of something that a majority

of Americans feared.

It has been four decades and great strides have been made in education, science and

medicine for the treatment of HIV and AIDS. The silver lining to Eddie Murphy’s routine was

the visibility it created which raised the profile of AIDS and fueled research, treatment options,

advances in medicine, and education and awareness. While millions of Americans are living with

AIDS it is no longer an epidemic. Despite this fact HIV and AIDS are a major focus in society
and communities have come together to learn and educate each other on the disease instead of

fearing it and blaming others for its existence. During the AIDS crisis of the 1980’s President

Ronald Reagan played a critical role during his first term by allocating $12 million for AIDS

research and treatment. While this was a significant step, Reagan was also singled out and

“activists condemned President Ronald Reagan for his public silence on AIDS during his first

term.” (Khan Academy) American people were not happy and to Reagan’s credit he listened to

these voices. During his second term in office, Reagan and his executive staff allocated a

whopping $500 million towards AIDS research, treatment and education. In 1987 the FDA

approved the drug AZT to be sold which inhibits the HIV virus and delays the onset of AIDS in

in any infected patient. The approval of AZT was seen as a turning point in the battle against

AIDS. In the 1990’s even more effective antiretroviral drugs and drug treatments were

discovered which continue to support people infected with the HIV virus all over the world.

The AIDS epidemic of the 1980’s was a significant moment. Eddie Murphy took a

prominent social issue and developed entertaining, funny and homophobic jokes which implied

that homosexual men were the sole cause of AIDS during his stand-up routine Delirious. While

the jokes were designed to be entertaining to his audience, they lacked facts based on the

incomplete information that was available at the time. These were important details that caused

many Americans to fear AIDS while not truly understanding it. While homosexuals were in the

AIDS conversation, they came together to develop a more important public conversation that

created education, funding, research and treatments. Today, we are still dealing with AIDS, but

great progress has been made which is a credit in part to the visibility created by the media and

comedians like Eddie Murphy and the homosexual community that took a leadership position for

change during an important moment in history.

 Works Cited

“Emergence of the AIDS Crisis.” Khan Academy, Khan Academy,

www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/modern-us/1980s-america/a/emergence-of-the-

aids-crisis.

ROBERTS, LESLIE. “INTRODUTION: HIV/AIDS In America.” Science, vol. 337, no. 6091,
2012, pp. 167–167., www.jstor.org/stable/41584521.

Goldstein, Richard. “The Implicated and the Immune: Cultural Responses to AIDS.” The
Milbank Quarterly, vol. 68, 1990, pp. 295–319. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3350055.