SO THEN

[salsburysteakjr]

Okay. Please, I would like ONLY THOSE who know factually what I'm going to ask. Even if the factual answer is, "nobody can be 100% sure", that is fine. Gossip seems to be the flood drowning most of any truth to either sides angle on the story, so please lets have us a very intellectual conversation full of what we DO know and nothing more

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[salsburysteakjr]

Yeah since I posted this I discovered. And it's pretty much 100% a fact now that JT Leroy does not exist. I rented The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things dvd, and after featuring an extra of "JT" giving a reading of Harold's End, they then have another feature entierly about the fact he is non-existant and the cast and crew of the film are asked when they found out, does it matter, etc. From Asia on down. So basically no, he is not real.

It felt like a slap in the face to find out. When you discover an artists works and feel profoundly affected by them, there is a kind of unspoken connection between you and that artist, a feeling they've given you this wonderful gift. And with JT's apparent personal story of growing up under the most profoundly awful circumstances, it was an especially harrowing gift, one you felt all the more grateful for recieving, for being let on to.

But no, it was all a hoax. They made the whole thing up to spike book sales and be cutsey and hilarious in fooling the whole world. I find it even worse that the person they used to pretend to be Leroy made a point to act as meek and nervous and shy as possible. You'd watch him read for the audience and want to weep for the kid. You think, "God, what some poor people are put through."

Why was that neccessary??? Why did they want our pity so much? It was the most bastardly thing they could have done. The whole thing is repulsive, especially when "his" novels were so well written. They'd of garnered the cult following they have without all the bullshit.

You know, I'm still gonna get "JT Leroy" novels, because they are well written. I don't give a damn whose name's on the cover so long as it's the same person penning them all. A lot of fans I bet feel the same way, and still are annoyed they had to be duped and made to pity a non-existant person. I can't help but feel it's kind of unintentionally making light of all the children who are put through what "Leroy"s protagonists are.