READERS COMMENT ON A HOT POTATO

We get letters. . . .

About the media handling of the Rock Hudson story: It is so sad that the cruelty of dirty minds--not compassion and honest concern as one would hope--prompted the ugly and poorly disguised reporting that evolved.

MARK BUCHOZ

Lake View Terrace

Your point that the involvement of a celebrity who has AIDS may bring more attention to it is very important. The impact of this development will be greater than that from involvement by celebrities such as Bette Midler, Joan Rivers, Ann-Margret and Elizabeth Taylor, who contribute time and money to AIDS-related causes.

AIDS is a health problem for the entire world, yet its initial impact on minority communities such as homosexual men, Haitians and hemophiliacs has resulted in widespread public ignorance and government neglect. The sudden attention by the broadcast media may alleviate this problem to some extent.

R. LEONARD BROWN

Los Angeles

Please accept this as a note of heterosexual appreciation. All those newspapers and all those TV folks who thought they were making points with straights, sensationalizing the case as they did, were slightly off base. Every other heterosexual I’ve talked to was just as repulsed as I was.

DAVID R. MOSS

Los Angeles

I know that the world is in great trouble. I know that there are many, many things that are very important. But why do you have to knock “Wheel of Fortune”? I happen to love to do crossword puzzles, jigsaw puzzles and many other challenging games. I also read a lot and when I read your article, I got very upset. Why do you have to make it something against blacks and women or their roles in TV? Can’t you just sit back and enjoy the game?

MRS. MARTIN G. NORMAND

Atascadero

Pat Sajak may be a “scoop of vanilla,” but my vote, if you’re taking one, goes to Mr. Bland Gary Collins, who hosts “Hour Magazine.” He is nonfat cottage cheese topped with a dollop of plain yogurt. He is tall, blond and is the most untalented, uninspiring, unimaginative host on television who does almost nothing. Boring. Following in a close second is Steve Edwards of Channel 7.

But the white-dominated TV industry, both in back and in front of the camera, goes beyond game shows. It permeates every facet of the entertainment business, starting in the board rooms. It’s like some secret society with an unwritten law, which bars almost all nonwhites from entering their private domain.

Do you think these same magnanimous Hollywood folks who have helped the starving people of drought-ridden Ethiopia would give them jobs here?

LILLIAN K. DAVIS

Los Angeles

In defense of Fritz Coleman, I would like to note that Mr. Coleman has put considerable time and energy into fund-raising events for our school and is a warm and generous man. Also, unlike the other jokers mentioned in the article, he is funny.

JON COOKSEY

Sherman Oaks