In 1988 when I was in hair school and instructor was diagnosed with HIV and was fired. He wasn’t allowed to do hair anymore either. Lost his job and cosmetology license. Wasn’t allowed to touch people. We weren’t even allowed to talk about it. HIV and AIDS were running rampant and it was buried for years. People were treated as lepers. Wasn’t until a young boy was infected from a blood transfusion that they even took it somewhat seriously. Only 35 years ago.
Had a friend who died from AIDS in 1992 that was infected from a breast implant surgery and tons of folks wouldn’t go to her funeral!
My 17yo thought I was bullshitting him when we were talking about these jokes. He googled it and was speechless. I was kinda young when they were popular but remember vividly my uncle’s telling them often.