Why James Corden sent 297 copies of an old Tom Hanks movie to Trump

CBS

In an effort to teach President Donald Trump about the importance of HIV/AIDS research, "The Late Late Show" host James Corden has sent 297 copies of the 1994 Oscar-winning, Tom Hanks-starring movie about a man with AIDS, "Philadelphia," to the president.

Corden said he sent the DVDs to Trump in reaction to the recent news that six members of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS have resigned because, in their view, Trump "simply does not care" about the HIV epidemic.

The "Late Late Show" host admitted that until he saw the acclaimed, tragic movie from the late director Jonathan Demme, he was unaware of the impact of HIV/AIDS. 

"I was thinking, maybe that's the problem. Maybe Donald Trump doesn't care because he's never seen 'Philadelphia,'" Corden said. "In fact, I'm almost certain that's probably what it is."

After the White House rebuffed Corden's proposal to send one copy of "Philadelphia" to Trump, Corden and his staff decided to buy up every DVD of the film they could find online — 297 copies — and send them to Trump's Florida estate Mar-a-Lago.

"We hope that if Trump watches 'Philadelphia,' he'll understand two things," Corden said. "One, Tom Hanks definitely deserved that Oscar, and number two, we hope that he'll realize that HIV and AIDS is something that you or any president of the U.S. or any world leader for that matter can never afford to ignore."

Watch the segment below:

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