Kinison’s Comedy Album to Contain Insert Providing Facts on AIDS

Warner Bros. Records announced that it is inserting AIDS fact sheets into copies of Sam Kinison’s recently released comedy album, which has been loudly criticized for bashing gays and containing incorrect information about the deadly disease.

The first pressing of Kinison’s “Have You Seen Me Lately?” is already in stores, but Warner publicity director Bob Merlis said the second pressing of the album will contain the inserts. Similar informational messages will soon be inserted in records by other artists as well, Warners officials said.

Merlis said that Kinison’s management agreed to the insert immediately. He said records containing the warnings will arrive in stores within three weeks.

“We hope that other record companies and artists will come forward and volunteer” for similar inserts, attorney Gloria Allred said at a news conference. The effort will include “as many records of all kinds as possible.”

Warner Bros. agreed to the inserts after a meeting earlier this week between company officials, Allred and representatives of AIDS Project Los Angeles, the Black Gay and Lesbian Leadership Forum, the Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center, the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, and the AIDS Hospice Foundation. All of these groups had attacked Kinison for blaming gays for the epidemic and misrepresenting how the disease is spread.

The insert explains in plain language how AIDS is transmitted and who gets it. It also recommends the use of condoms as a means of preventing the spread of the disease.