In her March 8 nationally syndicated column, right-wing pundit Ann Coulter took issue with actor George Clooney's remark that those in the film industry “talked about AIDS when it was just being whispered.” Coulter wrote that Hollywood actually “got caught with its pants down” on the issue of AIDS and “got it right in the end.” Coulter then noted that she should “hire two more interns to screen hate mail.” The column was picked up by Yahoo News, Jewish World Review and David Horowitz's FrontPageMag.com.

Clooney made the remark on March 5 during an acceptance speech at the 78th annual Academy Awards. In response, Coulter commented that AIDS “is something you'd expect people like Clooney to know something about” and claimed that Hollywood was in fact “seven years behind” on the issue. As evidence, she noted that attendees “didn't start wearing AIDS ribbons to the Oscars until 1992.”

From Coulter's March 8 column, "It's hard out here for a wimp":

George Clooney made the only stand for liberal Hollywood, smugly declaring:

“We are a little bit out of touch in Hollywood every once in a while. I think it's probably a good thing. We're the ones who talked about AIDS when it was just being whispered, and we talked about civil rights when it wasn't really popular. ... (T)his group of people gave Hattie McDaniel an Oscar in 1939 when blacks were still sitting in the backs of theaters. I'm proud ... to be part of this community, and proud to be out of touch.”

Forget about Hollywood being ahead of the big issues: Hollywood has never even been on time for the big issues. This is why, for example, in the middle of an epic war with Islamic fascists, Hollywood is still making movies about the Nazis. Now and then, just for variety, they tackle a more current topic, like the Jim Crow era.

Even on AIDS -- which is something you'd expect people like Clooney to know something about -- Hollywood was about seven years behind. Wait, no -- bad choice of words. Even on AIDS, Hollywood got caught with its pants down. Still no good. On AIDS, Hollywood got it right in the end. Oh, dear ... Note to self: Must hire two more interns to screen hate mail.

The point is: The Hollywood set didn't start wearing AIDS ribbons to the Oscars until 1992: 10 years after The New York Times described AIDS; seven years after AIDS was the cover story on Life magazine; seven years after AIDS was in People magazine; five years after Oprah did a show on AIDS.