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{{Short description|Literary persona adopted by writer Laura Albert}}
{{COI|date=December 2016}}
{{For|the film|JT LeRoy (film)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2014}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2014}}
] "signed" by JT LeRoy]] ]'' signed by "JT LeRoy"]]
'''Jeremiah "Terminator" LeRoy''' is a ] created by American writer ]. His author's bio states that LeRoy was born in 1980, first published at the age of sixteen, lives in San Francisco, and that he had also written articles and stories for ], ], ], ], and several anthologies under the name Terminator.<ref>https://www.amazon.com/Heart-Deceitful-Above-All-Things/dp/1582342113/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1481074656&sr=1-4&keywords=jt+leroy</ref> After the first novel '']'' was published, Laura Albert started hiring her sister-in-law Savannah Knoop{{citation needed|date=December 2016}} to make public appearances as JT LeRoy. In a January 2006 article in ''],'' LeRoy's agent, manager, movie producer, as well as several journalists, declared that the person acting as LeRoy in public was Savannah Knoop. Soon after, it was revealed that Laura Albert had written all of JT LeRoy's works, and had done all of the correspondence of "JT LeRoy," on the phone and in email for over ten years. '''Jeremiah Terminator LeRoy''', or simply '''JT LeRoy''', is a ] created in the 1990s by American writer ]. LeRoy was presented as the author of three books of fiction, which were purportedly semi-autobiographical accounts by a teenage boy of his experiences of poverty, drug use, and emotional and sexual abuse in his childhood and adolescence from rural West Virginia to California. Albert wrote these works, and communicated with people in the persona of LeRoy via phone and e-mail. Following the release of the first novel '']'', Albert's sibling-in-law ] began to make public appearances as the supposed writer.<ref>{{cite web|author=What to Stream Now |url=https://www.vulture.com/2008/06/laura_albert_vs_savannah_knoop.html |title=Laura Albert Versus Savannah Knoop: Who Is the Real Fake JT LeRoy? |date=June 2, 2008 |publisher=Vulture |access-date=2017-03-05}}</ref> The works attracted considerable literary and celebrity attention, and the authenticity of LeRoy has been a subject of debate, even as details of the creation came to light in the 2000s.


==Published works== ==Published works==
Albert originally published as '''Terminator''' and later '''JT LeRoy.'''<ref name="PARISREVIEW">{{cite web|url=http://www.jtleroy.com/images/TPR178_JTLeroy.pdf |title=Laura Albert |website=Jtleroy.com |date=2014-06-20 |accessdate=2016-11-20}}</ref> Albert originally published as '''Terminator''' and later '''JT LeRoy'''.<ref name="PARISREVIEW">{{cite web|url=http://www.jtleroy.com/images/TPR178_JTLeroy.pdf |title=Laura Albert |website=Jtleroy.com |date=2014-06-20 |access-date=2016-11-20}}</ref>


*'']'' (1999)<ref name="sarah">LeRoy, JT. ''].'' Bloomsbury USA (June 9, 2000) ISBN 1-58234-146-X.</ref> *'']'' (2000)<ref name="sarah">LeRoy, JT. ''].'' Bloomsbury USA (June 9, 2000) {{ISBN|1-58234-146-X}}.</ref>
:By turns magical and realistic, the novel ''Sarah'' is narrated by a nameless boy whose mother Sarah is a ]: a prostitute who works the truck stops in West Virginia. She can be abusive and abandoning, yet he longs for her love and tries to follow in her world, working for a pimp who specializes in "boy-girls." :By turns magical and realistic, the novel ''Sarah'' is narrated by a nameless boy whose mother Sarah is a ]: a prostitute who works the truck stops in West Virginia. She can be abusive and abandoning, yet he longs for her love and tries to follow in her world, working for a pimp who specializes in "boy-girls".
* '']'' (1999)<ref name="heart">LeRoy, JT. ''].'' Bloomsbury USA Hardcover (June 9, 2001) ISBN 1-58234-142-7 Paperback (June 1, 2002) ISBN 1-58234-211-3.</ref> * '']'' (2001)<ref name="heart">LeRoy, JT. ''].'' Bloomsbury USA Hardcover (June 9, 2001) {{ISBN|1-58234-142-7}} Paperback (June 1, 2002) {{ISBN|1-58234-211-3}}.</ref>
:Ten short stories that form a novel about the childhood of Jeremiah, torn from his foster parents at age four when his emotionally disturbed mother reclaims him and then runs away with him. She alternately clings to Jeremiah and abandons him, subjecting him to patterns of abuse and exploitation she has suffered throughout her life. :Ten short stories that form a novel about the childhood of LeRoy, torn from his foster parents at age four when his emotionally disturbed mother reclaims him and then runs away with him. She alternately clings to LeRoy and abandons him, subjecting him to patterns of abuse and exploitation she has suffered throughout her life.
*''Harold's End'' (2005)<ref name="harold">LeRoy, JT. ''Harold's End.'' Last Gasp (January 30, 2005) ISBN 0-86719-614-9. Originally in '']'' Issue 7. Italian translation ''La fine di Harold'' by Martina Testa. Fazio Editore 2003. ISBN 88-8112-387-8.</ref> *''Harold's End'' (2005)<ref name="harold">LeRoy, JT. ''Harold's End''. Last Gasp (January 30, 2005) {{ISBN|0-86719-614-9}}. Originally in '']'' Issue 7. Italian translation ''La fine di Harold'' by Martina Testa. Fazio Editore 2003. {{ISBN|88-8112-387-8}}.</ref>
:The novella follows a young heroin addict who is befriended by Larry, an older man, from whom he receives an unusual pet. Illustrations are by Australian artist ]. Published by ]. :The novella follows a young heroin addict who is befriended by Larry, an older man, from whom he receives an unusual pet. Illustrations are by Australian artist ]. Published by ].
*'']'' (2007)<ref name="Labour">LeRoy, JT. ''].'' Last Gasp USA (March 31, 2007) ISBN 978-0-86719-654-2.</ref>
:A young boy lives with his mother and her boyfriend in a small trailer. When a new baby comes along, he must take care of it the best he can, drawing inspiration from a book about the labors of ]. This volume also features watercolor illustrations from Australian artist Cherry Hood.

]


===Contributions to other written works=== ===Contributions to other written works===
{{More citations needed section|date=August 2022}}
Work credited to LeRoy was published in literary journals such as ]'s '']'', '']'', ''Memorious'', and '']'' magazine's Seventh Annual Music Issue. LeRoy was listed as a contributing editor to '']'' magazine, '']'' and '']'' magazines, and is credited with writing reviews all of which include the character Justin Wayne Dennis, articles and interviews for '']'', ], '']'', '']'', '']'', '']'', '']'', '']'', '']'', and '']'', among others.
Work credited to LeRoy was published in literary journals such as ]'s '']'', '']'', ''Memorious'', and '']'' magazine's Seventh Annual Music Issue. LeRoy was listed as a contributing editor to '']'' magazine, '']'' and '']'' magazines, and is credited with writing reviews, articles, and interviews for '']'', '']'' of London, '']'', '']'', '']'', ''Flaunt'', '']'', '']'', '']'', and '']'', among others.


LeRoy's work has also appeared in such anthologies as ''The ] Nonrequired Reading 2003'', ]'s ''Lit Riffs'', ''XXX: 30 Porn-Star Portraits'', ]'s ''Beauty's Nothing'', and ''The Fourth Sex: Adolescent Extremes''. LeRoy is also listed as guest editor for ''Da Capo's Best Music Writing 2005''.<ref name="capo">LeRoy, JT (ed). ''Da Capo Best Music Writing 2005: The Year's Finest Writing on Rock, Hip-hop, Jazz, Pop, Country & More''. Da Capo Press (October 30, 2005) ISBN 0-306-81446-3</ref> LeRoy's work has also appeared in such anthologies as ''The ] Nonrequired Reading 2003'', ]'s ''Lit Riffs'', ''XXX: 30 Porn-Star Portraits'', ]'s ''Beauty's Nothing'', and ''The Fourth Sex: Adolescent Extremes''. LeRoy is also listed as guest editor for ''Da Capo's Best Music Writing 2005''.<ref name="capo">LeRoy, JT (ed). ''Da Capo Best Music Writing 2005: The Year's Finest Writing on Rock, Hip-hop, Jazz, Pop, Country & More''. Da Capo Press (October 30, 2005) {{ISBN|0-306-81446-3}}</ref>


Additionally, LeRoy was credited with liner notes and biographies for musicians ], ], ], ], ], ], ] and ] and profiled award-winner ]. Additionally, LeRoy was credited with liner notes and biographies for musicians ], ], ], ], ], ], ] and ] and profiled award-winner ].


==Circumstances of LeRoy's creation==
===Film===
Calling a suicide hotline in the 1990s, Albert reached Dr. Terrence Owens, a psychologist with the McAuley Adolescent Psychiatric Program at St. Mary's Medical Center in San Francisco.<ref name=":0">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/07/books/07lero.html|title=Figure in JT LeRoy Case Says Partner Is Culprit|date=February 7, 2006|work=The New York Times}}</ref> Owens did not know her as Laura Albert at the time, but as "Jeremiah" or "Terminator". Owens is credited with encouraging "Jeremiah" or "Terminator" to write during their phone therapy sessions.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Soul-baring-fiction-author-J-T-LeRoy-plays-with-2556606.php |title=Soul-baring fiction author J.T. LeRoy plays with gender—and identity. Does it really matter who he is?|date=December 17, 2005 |publisher=]|access-date=2017-03-05}}</ref> Albert also recorded conversations without Owens' consent, and these illegally recorded phone calls made their way into the 2016 documentary '']''.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/12/movies/asia-argento-and-others-are-angry-about-being-in-jt-leroy-documentary.html|title=Argento and Others Are Angry About Being in JT Leroy Documentary|newspaper=]|date=September 11, 2016 |access-date=2017-03-05|last1=Moynihan |first1=Colin }}</ref>
] bought the film rights to ''Sarah'' and commissioned J.T. to write a screenplay about a school shooting that provided the seed for the 2003 film '']'' (for which J.T. received an associate-producer credit).<ref name="vanityfair2006"/>


Albert explained the circumstances of LeRoy's existence in a 2006 interview in '']'' with ]; she described her troubled history and her alleged personal experiences with abuse, abandonment, sex work, gender identity, and her need, since childhood, to create alternate personae (chiefly over the telephone) as a psychological survival mechanism, through which she could articulate her own ideas and feelings.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.theparisreview.com/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5664 |title=Being JT LeRoy (excerpt) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060916031859/http://www.theparisreview.com/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5664 |archive-date=September 16, 2006 |first=Nathaniel |last=Rich |issue=178 |date=Fall 2006 |journal=The Paris Review}}</ref>
LeRoy was credited as associate producer for the 2004 film adaptation of ''],'' directed by and starring ]. It was released in spring 2006.


At her 2007 fraud trial, Albert described LeRoy as her "veil".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/aug/01/news |title=JT LeRoy author ordered to pay triple-sized costs &#124; Books |newspaper=] |access-date=2017-03-05}}</ref>
In 2005 LeRoy was credited as a contributing scriptwriter for '']'' (2009), a Luxembourgian-German drama film that depicts a love story set in ] in 1984, starring ], ] and ], and produced by Delux Productions.


==Supporters== == Exposure==
Throughout the 1990s, virtually no one had ever glimpsed the reclusive author.<ref name=":1" /> Then, in 2001, a person wearing a wig and sunglasses began appearing in public, claiming to be LeRoy.


In August 2005, journalist John Nova Lomax published the article "Coal Miner Mother of a Mess" in the ''Houston Press'', casting doubt on the particulars of LeRoy's story. Lomax recounted his frustrated attempts to contact LeRoy by e-mail, pointed out several obvious discrepancies of fact, and cast doubt on LeRoy's existence.<ref></ref> A few months later, ], in an October 2005 article in '']'' magazine, revealed that LeRoy was indeed a fictional creation, invented by writer Laura Albert, and that LeRoy's purported public appearances in wig and sunglasses were made by an actor.<ref name=":1" /> Beachy asserted that Albert had been posing as LeRoy's caretaker and spokesperson, calling herself "Speedie", under the false premise that LeRoy lived with Albert and her husband Geoffrey Knoop, who used the pseudonym "Astor".<ref name=":1" />
=== Literary supporters ===
In 1994, Albert as LeRoy got in touch with novelist ] by faxing a request through Cooper's agent, ]. LeRoy struck up a telephone friendship with Cooper, who introduced him to the writer ], through whom he contacted novelist ], writer Laurie Stone, editor Karen Rinaldi, and agent Henry Dunow. He also got in touch with poet ], ] and ], among others.


In January 2006, journalist ] revealed his finding<ref name=":2" /> in '']'' that the person posing as LeRoy in a wig and sunglasses for six years was 25-year-old ], Geoffrey Knoop's sibling.<ref name=":3">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/09/books/the-unmasking-of-jt-leroy-in-public-hes-a-she.html|title=The Unmasking of JT Leroy: In Public, He's a She|author=Warren St. John|date=2006-01-09|newspaper=]|access-date=2017-03-05}}</ref> In a subsequent article, St. John published details of an interview with Geoffrey Knoop, in which Knoop confirmed that LeRoy did not exist, and that his sibling was LeRoy's public face.<ref name=":0" /> Knoop also admitted to St. John that Laura Albert had written the works published as LeRoy's.<ref name=":0" />
=== Celebrity supporters ===
In early 2001, ] singer ] mentioned reading ''Sarah'' in her band's online journal.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.garbage.com|title=Strange little birds|publisher=Garbage }}</ref> Manson then received LeRoy's manuscript for ''The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things'' and they became friends. At the time, Manson was writing and recording the band's third album, '']'', and wrote a song about LeRoy called "]". Manson later referenced LeRoy and his friend Speedie in the title song from the band's fourth effort, '']''.


In 2008, Savannah Knoop published a memoir, ''Girl Boy Girl: How I Became JT LeRoy'', about their six-year career as an impersonator.<ref name=":2">, '']'', November 2, 2008</ref>
==Circumstances of JT LeRoy's creation==
As a teen, Laura Albert called suicide hotlines for help. She felt more comfortable speaking with strangers as a boy because of the sexual abuse and degradation she'd suffered that seemed, in her world, relatively common as a female. She found counselors to be sympathetic when she called as a male. Calling a suicide hotline in the 1990s, she reached Dr. Terrence Owens, a psychologist with the McAuley Adolescent Psychiatric Program at St. Mary's Medical Center in San Francisco.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/07/books/07lero.html|title=Figure in JT LeRoy Case Says Partner Is Culprit|date=February 7, 2006|work=The New York Times}}</ref> Dr. Terrence Owens did not know her as Laura Albert at the time, but as Terminator. She explored this role in their conversations. Dr. Terrence Owens is credited with encouraging Terminator, who later became known as JT LeRoy, to write during their phone therapy sessions.<ref>http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Soul-baring-fiction-author-J-T-LeRoy-plays-with-2556606.php |title=Soul-baring fiction author J.T. LeRoy plays with gender - and identity. Does it really matter who he is?</ref> The writings that LeRoy shared with Dr. Owens eventually made their way into the collection of short stories in 1998.


== Film option and lawsuit==
Laura Albert explained the circumstances of JT's existence in a Fall 2006 Paris Review interview with Nathaniel Rich. She attested that she could not have written from raw emotion without the right to be presented to the world via JT LeRoy, whom she calls her "phantom limb." "I had survived sexual and physical abuse and found a way to turn it into art," she later wrote in The Forward. "Having struggled with issues of gender fluidity when there was no language for it, I created a character both on and off the page who modeled this as yet to be named state of being." <ref>http://forward.com/culture/351569/how-to-kill-a-butterfly-like-elena-ferrante-or-jt-leroy/?attribution=home-hero-item-text-4 |title=How To Kill a Butterfly Like Elena Ferrante or JT Leroy - Culture –</ref>
], and its president ] announced plans for a film adaptation of ''Sarah'' to be directed by ]. According to ''The New York Times'', when Shainberg "learned who had truly written ''Sarah'' an inspiration came to him to make a 'meta-film', a triple-layered movie that would blend the novel with the lives of its real and purported authors in a project he took to calling ''Sarah Plus''."<ref>{{cite news|last=Feuer |first=Alan |title=In Writer's Trial, a Conflict Over Roles of Art and Money |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9900EFDF113FF931A15755C0A9619C8B63 |work=The New York Times |date=June 22, 2007 |access-date=2013-09-10}}</ref> ''The New York Times'' also reported that this new project "required the rights to Laura Albert's story, rights that she in no uncertain terms refused to grant".<ref name=":23">{{cite news|author=Feuer, Alan|title="Judge Orders Author to Pay Film Company $350,000 in Legal Fees"|date=August 1, 1007|newspaper=]|access-date=2016-11-20|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/01/nyregion/01leroy.html?_r=0}}</ref>


In June 2007 Antidote sued Laura Albert for fraud, claiming that a contract signed by Albert in LeRoy's name to make a feature film of ''Sarah'' was null and void.<ref name="NYT07"> By Alan Feuer, '']'', Published: June 20, 2007.</ref> A jury found against Albert in the sum of $116,500, holding that the use of the pseudonym to sign the film rights contract was fraudulent.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/movies/2007-06-23-4245882828_x.htm |title=Jury: novel bought by company fraudulent |first=Amy |last=Westfeldt |date=June 23, 2007 |agency=Associated Press |newspaper=USA Today}}</ref>
Albert described LeRoy as an "avatar",<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxAHHXE0HOw |title=Laura Albert at The Moth "My Avatar & Me" |deadurl=no |via=YouTube |accessdate=2013-01-30}}</ref> and said that she was able to write things as LeRoy that she could not have said as Laura Albert, comparing it to "the way an oyster creates a pearl: out of irritation and suffering. It was an attempt to try to heal something."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sfbg.com/2013/06/26/still-beating |title=Still Beating |deadurl=no |website=Sfbg.com |accessdate=2013-06-26}}</ref> She later commented, "I had survived sexual and physical abuse and found a way to turn it into art Having struggled with issues of gender fluidity when there was no language for it, I created a character both on and off the page who modeled this as yet to be named state of being."<ref>{{cite web|author= |url=http://forward.com/culture/351569/how-to-kill-a-butterfly-like-elena-ferrante-or-jt-leroy/?attribution=home-hero-item-text-4 |title=How To Kill a Butterfly Like Elena Ferrante or JT Leroy - Culture – |website=Forward.com |date=2016-10-10 |accessdate=2016-11-20}}</ref> Writing for ''The New York Times'' in 2016, Albert noted, "I meet a lot of young people and they're shocked that it was an issue to even have an avatar. Because they've grown up where you have multiple fully formed avatars."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/01/t-magazine/entertainment/author-jt-leroy-story-documentary-laura-albert.html|title=Author JT LeRoy Story Documentary Laura Albert|newspaper=]|accessdate=2016-11-20}}</ref>


== In art and popular culture ==
== Exposure==
Throughout the 1990s, LeRoy rarely appeared in public. Then in 2001, a person claiming to be LeRoy began appearing in public, usually decked out in wig and sunglasses.


]'s 2000 novel '']'' features the case of Anthony Godby Johnson, which is similar to that of LeRoy.<ref name=":1">{{cite web|url=https://nymag.com/nymetro/news/people/features/14718/index2.html |title=Who is JT LeRoy? The True Identity of a Great Literary Hustler |website=Nymag.com |date=October 7, 2005 |access-date=2016-11-20}}</ref>
A friend, Steve O’Connor, said that he knew Laura Albert had written the books. Star photographer ] claimed that when she photographed Savannah Knoop for a Vainty Fair shoot she was certain that Savannah Knoop was a woman and recalled the costumed JT LeRoy persona as "a masquerade that a lot of fancy people fell for...A put-on that didn't harm anybody." <ref>http://www.sfgate.com/living/article/IDENTITY-CRISIS-How-former-sex-writer-Laura-2501521.php</ref>


In 2013 filmmaker ] claimed LeRoy for his inspiration in translating ]'s ] ''Sunny''.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2013/06/18/general/the-sunny-side-of-taiyo-matsumoto/#.Uyfctq1dVvC|title=The 'Sunny' side of Taiyo Matsumoto |newspaper=The Japan Times}}</ref>
] published an article in 2005 to imply that Laura Albert wrote the stories,<ref>http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/people/features/14718/index4.html</ref> and later the ] confirmed that JT LeRoy was the invention of Speedie/Emily, whose real name is Laura Albert. ] also publicly announced that Laura Albert wrote all of J.T.’s books, articles, and stories, corresponded as J.T. by e-mail, and spoke as him on the phone.<ref>http://www.vanityfair.com/style/2006/04/jtleroy200604</ref> Savannah Knoop stopped making public appearances as JT Leroy.


At a 2013 symposium with filmmaker ] and ] in New York, actress and writer ] said that LeRoy "co-opted my imagination for a full year of my life. It was pretty remarkable. And then you also go, 'This person isn't who they claim to be, but they still wrote this book that captured all of our imaginations, so then why does the identity of the author even matter when you're reading fiction and engaging with it in a really personal way?'"<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MO2fQoBOJX0 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/MO2fQoBOJX0 |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|title=JJ Abrams and Doug Dorst w/ Lena Dunham discuss S. #whoisStraka (2/4)|last=CuInAnotherLifeBro|date=November 29, 2013|via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref> That same year, Laura Albert told '']'', "You know, JT LeRoy does not exist. But he lives. That's what a famous film historian once said about ]."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.interviewmagazine.com/culture/laura-albert/#page3|title=Laura Albert|date=July 10, 2013 |publisher=interviewmagazine.com}}</ref>
On January 6, 2006 JT LeRoy posted a blog entry titled "the hoax edition"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://jtleroy.blogspot.com/2006/01/test.html|title=JT LeRoy test|publisher=}}</ref> which cited an article in ''The Guardian'' that "identity is irrelevant." Also included were T-shirt prints which made light of the hoax, reading "I am the real JT LeRoy" and including an artistic image of the author's blonde wig and sunglasses. Also on the blog entry were promotional references to the film ''The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things'', DVD cover art and opening dates, and a ] viewing.


In 2014 interviewer Dylan Samson on the LastLook App blog stated that "Albert had ingeniously hacked the literary establishment".<ref name="corp.lastlookapp.com">{{cite web |last1=Samson |first1=Dylan |title=5 Questions for Writer, Laura Albert |url=http://corp.lastlookapp.com/posts/five-questions-for-laura-albert/ |website=LastLook App |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150109153844/http://corp.lastlookapp.com/posts/five-questions-for-laura-albert/ |archive-date=January 9, 2015 |date=June 24, 2014}}</ref>
As reported by Vanity Fair in 2006, J. T. LeRoy was the invention of Speedie/Emily, whose real name is Laura Albert. Now 40, she wrote all of J.T.’s books, articles, and stories, corresponded as J.T. by e-mail, and spoke as him on the phone, putting on a southern accent she thought was in accordance with J.T.’s supposed West Virginian origins. The high, feminine pitch was sometimes explained away as a result of J.T.’s not having fully matured physically due to the abuse he suffered. Her co-conspirators were Astor, whose real name is Geoffrey Knoop, 39, and his half-sister Savannah Knoop, a 25-year-old aspiring clothes designer who, once J.T.’s career took off, was drafted to play the writer in public—the wigs-and-sunglasses figure."<ref name="vanityfair2006">{{cite web|url=http://www.vanityfair.com/style/2006/04/jtleroy200604 |title=The Boy Who Cried Author |publisher=Vanity Fair |date=2014-01-02 |accessdate=2016-11-20}}</ref> The November 29, 2007 '']'' (#1040) featured an article about JT LeRoy by Guy Lawson in which it was stated that the guitarist ] had been privy to what Albert was doing since 2002 and that this felt to him "... like being inside the ]".


In March 2014 the '']'' reported that the Academy of Friends Oscar Party in San Francisco invited JT LeRoy – played by ] fashion model ] – to walk the runway as part of its HIV/AIDS fundraiser.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/garchik/article/Long-lost-Ukrainian-uncle-has-left-you-5-million-5304867.php|title=Long-lost Ukrainian uncle has left you $5 million|date=March 10, 2014 |publisher=www.sfgate.com}}</ref>
The media's attention shifted from a fascination with the persona of JT LeRoy and the writing, to a castigation of Laura Albert. Laura Albert did not publish writing as JT LeRoy again.


As part of the artist and filmmaker ]’s 2014 exhibition "How To Disappear," she premiered her video ''The Ballad of JT LeRoy'',<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.birds-eye-view.co.uk/2016/08/03/laura-albert-on-lynn-hershman-leeson-and-author-the-jt-leroy-story/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160915144029/http://birds-eye-view.co.uk/2016/08/03/laura-albert-on-lynn-hershman-leeson-and-author-the-jt-leroy-story/ |archive-date=September 15, 2016 |title=Immediate Kinship: Laura Albert on Lynn Hershman Leeson {{!}}}}</ref> examining Laura Albert's use of the literary persona JT LeRoy. Reflecting on the parallels between JT LeRoy and her own alter ego Roberta Breitmore, Hershman Leeson has commented:<ref>{{cite web |url=http://kubaparis.com/interview-lynn-hershman-leeson/ |title = Interview {{!}} Lynn Hershman Leeson – KubaParis}}</ref>
In 2008, Savannah Knoop published ''Girl Boy Girl: How I Became JT LeRoy'', a memoir about the six years she spent as LeRoy.<ref>, '']'', November 2, 2008</ref>


<blockquote>The concept of an alter ego is not new at all. Writers have been protecting themselves in that way for centuries. ] did it. Of course Laura took this practice further and I think that was very smart and I do not think she deserves the kind of condemnation that she got. If I had done the Roberta thing ten years later, I would have faced the same problems.</blockquote>
== Film option and lawsuit==
], and its president ] announced plans for a film adaptation of ''Sarah'' to be directed by ]. According to ''The New York Times'', when Shainberg "learned who had truly written 'Sarah' an inspiration came to him to make a 'meta-film', a triple-layered movie that would blend the novel with the lives of its real and purported authors in a project he took to calling 'Sarah Plus'."<ref>{{cite news|last=Feuer |first=Alan |title=In Writer's Trial, a Conflict Over Roles of Art and Money |url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9900EFDF113FF931A15755C0A9619C8B63 |work=The New York Times |accessdate=2013-09-10}}</ref> ''The New York Times'' also reported that this new project "required the rights to Laura Albert's story, rights that she in no uncertain terms refused to grant."<ref name=":23">{{cite news|author=Feuer, Alan|title="Judge Orders Author to Pay Film Company $350,000 in Legal Fees"|date=August 1, 1007|newspaper=]|accessdate=2016-11-20|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/01/nyregion/01leroy.html?_r=0}}</ref>

In June 2007 Antidote sued Laura Albert for fraud, claiming that a contract signed by Albert in JT LeRoy's name to make a feature film of ''Sarah'' was null and void.<ref name="NYT07"> By Alan Feuer, '']'', Published: June 20, 2007.</ref> A jury found against Albert, holding that the use of the pseudonym to sign the film rights contract was fraudulent.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/movies/2007-06-23-4245882828_x.htm |title=Jury: novel bought by company fraudulent |first=Amy |last=Westfeldt |date=June 23, 2007 |publisher=Associated Press |newspaper=USA Today}}</ref>

=== In popular culture ===

References to JT LeRoy and the books have continued to turn up in popular culture, such as episodes of '']'' and '']'', and the Brazilian rock musical ''JT, Um Conto de Fadas Punk'' ("JT, A Punk Fairy Tale"). Artist/director ] created his VOOM video portrait of JT LeRoy.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dissidentusa.com/robert-wilson/subjects/jt-leroy/|title=JT LEROY -|publisher=Dissident USA}}</ref>

Filmmaker ] claimed JT LeRoy for his inspiration in translating ]'s ] Sunny.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2013/06/18/general/the-sunny-side-of-taiyo-matsumoto/#.Uyfctq1dVvC|title=The 'Sunny' side of Taiyo Matsumoto |publisher=The Japan Times}}</ref> At a 2013 symposium with filmmaker ] in New York, actress and writer ] said that JT LeRoy "co-opted my imagination for a full year of my life. It was pretty remarkable. And then you also go, 'This person isn't who they claim to be, but they still wrote this book that captured all of our imaginations, so then why does the identity of the author even matter when you're reading fiction and engaging with it in a really personal way?'"<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MO2fQoBOJX0|title=JJ Abrams and Doug Dorst w/ Lena Dunham discuss S. #whoisStraka (2/4)|first=|last=CuInAnotherLifeBro|date=November 29, 2013|publisher=|via=YouTube}}</ref> That same year, Laura Albert told '']'', “You know, JT LeRoy does not exist. But he lives. That’s what a famous film historian once said about ]."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.interviewmagazine.com/culture/laura-albert/#page3|title=Laura Albert|publisher=interviewmagazine.com}}</ref> Another interviewer insisted, "Albert had ingeniously hacked the literary establishment."<ref name="corp.lastlookapp.com">{{cite web|url=http://corp.lastlookapp.com/posts/five-questions-for-laura-albert/?utm_content=buffer6f9af&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer|title=5 Questions for Laura Albert |publisher=LASTLOOK}}</ref> In March 2014 the '']'' reported that the Academy of Friends Oscar Party in San Francisco invited JT LeRoy – played by gender-fluid fashion model Rain Dove Dubilewski – to walk the runway as part of its HIV/AIDS fundraiser.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/garchik/article/Long-lost-Ukrainian-uncle-has-left-you-5-million-5304867.php|title=Long-lost Ukrainian uncle has left you $5 million|publisher=www.sfgate.com}}</ref> Documentaries about JT LeRoy include ''Author: The JT LeRoy Story'' (2016) directed by ], ''The Cult of JT LeRoy'' (2015) directed by Marjorie Sturm, and ''The Ballad of JT LeRoy'' (2014) directed by ]. Writing about having curated a recent photographic exhibition that included ]'s 2001 portrait of JT LeRoy for '']'', Chuck Mobley of San Francisco Camerawork insisted, "There were a lot of moral judgments being made (by educated people who should know better) that were exhausting and simplistic. The grievances aired seemed petty and obscured a far more fascinating and intellectually stimulating story."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ashadedviewonfashion.com/2015/06/02/laura-albert-mary-ellen-marks-portrait-jt-leroy-sf-camerawork/|title=Laura Albert with Mary Ellen Mark's portrait of JT LeRoy at SF Camerawork|publisher=ashadedviewonfashion.com}}</ref> Many others have felt differently,"When Albert’s fraud was finally exposed (after she wrecked the credibility of several publications, book companies, a film studio—plus many gullible readers) the reaction was justifiably angry and strong."<ref>{{cite web|last=White |first=Armond |url=http://www.out.com/armond-white/2016/9/09/jt-leroy-drag-act-worst-sense |title=JT LeRoy, A Drag Act in the Worst Sense &#124; Out Magazine |website=Out.com |date=2016-09-09 |accessdate=2016-11-20}}</ref>


The story of JT LeRoy was the subject of ] based on Savannah Knoop's memoir. Directed by ], the film starred ] as Laura Albert and ] as Knoop.
===Comparisons to other Pseudonym Uses===
The JT LeRoy case has been frequently compared with the contemporaneous controversy involving the author ], despite the difference that Frey's work was published as a memoir, and LeRoy's work was published as fiction.


Documentaries about LeRoy include '']''<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5278462/ |title = Author: The JT LeRoy Story (2016) - IMDb| website=] }}</ref> (2016) directed by ], and ''The Cult of JT LeRoy''<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3756484/ |title = The Cult of JT LeRoy (2014) - IMDb| website=] }}</ref> (2015) directed by Marjorie Sturm.
There have been many comparisons to Armisted Maupin's "The Night Listener' and the case of Anthony Godby Johnson. ”<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/people/features/14718/index2.html |title=Who is JT LeRoy? The True Identity of a Great Literary Hustler |website=Nymag.com |date= |accessdate=2016-11-20}}</ref>


==References== ==References==
*Feuer, Alan. ''The New York Times'', 08/23/07
*Gagne, Nicole V. . http://jasminlim.com/Nicole-Gagne-on-JT-LeRoy-hoax-Laura-Albert-and-Oscar-Wilde.html
*Burt, Stephen. SARAH's Antidote: Is The JT LeRoy Scandal What You Think It Is?. http://www.slate.com/id/2169125/pagenum/all/#page_start
*Rubin, Sylvia. – Savannah Knoop has survived the JT Leroy scandal and is trying her hand at a new career.
*Bundy, Robert. Yes Virginia, There Is A JT LeRoy. ''Lemon Magazine'', Issue 2, 2006, Editorial Page.
*Carlson, Peter. After Plimpton, Onward & Upward. ''The Washington Post'', October 10, 2006, p.&nbsp;C04.
*]. Being JT LeRoy. ''The Paris Review'', Issue 178, Fall 2006, pp.&nbsp;145–68.
*Jourdan, Erin. JT Leroy and the Warholian. http://eriniajourdanski.blogspot.com/2006/01/jt-leroy-and-warholian.html
*Bahr, David. . ''The Advocate'', June 20, 2000. pp.&nbsp;139.
*Bavilsky, Dmitrii, translated to Russian by ] ''Vzgliad'', January 31, 2006.
*Press, Joy. . ''The Village Voice'', June 13, 2001.
*Waits, Tom. Strange Innocence. ''Vanity Fair'', July 2001. pp.&nbsp;99.
*Giles, Jeff. . ''Newsweek'', July 2, 2001. pp.&nbsp;56.
*Carbon, Chris. The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things (book review). ''The Advocate'', July 17, 2001. pp.&nbsp;66.
*Ziegler, R. Identity and Imposture in JT LeRoy's Sarah. ''Notes on Contemporary Literature''. 31(5), 2001. pp.&nbsp;3–5.
*Miller, D. Quentin. The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things (Review). ''The Review of Contemporary Fiction'', Fall 2001. pp.&nbsp;207.
*Gross, Terry (November 26, 2001). ] '']''
*Hennessy, Christopher. One Boy's Life of Drugs, Rape, and Incest. ''Lambda Book Report'', Jan. 2002. pp.&nbsp;27.
*Withers, James. Son of Sarah. ''The Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide'', March 2002. pp.&nbsp;38.
* {{cite journal | author= | title=Antidote Films announces plans to bring J.T. LeRoy's Sarah to the big screen | journal=Advocate | year=2003 | issue=September 6 | url=http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid10540.asp}}
* {{cite news | last=LeRoy | first=JT | title=Uncle Walt, Parlez-Vous Français? | date=September 25, 2005 | publisher=''The New York Times'' T: magazine | url=http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/25/travel/tmagazine/25DISNEY.html}}
* {{cite journal | author=Stephen Beachy | authorlink=Stephen Beachy | title=Who is the Real JT LeRoy?: A search for the true identity of a great literary hustler | journal=New York magazine | year=2005 | issue=October 17 | url=http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/people/features/14718}}
* {{cite news | author= | title=Elusive author's cry: I'm real! | date=October 15, 2005 | publisher=New York Post | url=http://entertainment.excite.com/celebgossip/pgsix/id/10_15_2005_1.html}}
* {{cite news | title=A Novelist's Novelist: Is the acclaimed JT LeRoy just a character himself? | last=Segal | first=David | newspaper=The Washington Post | date=October 13, 2005 | url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/12/AR2005101202422.html}}
* {{cite news | title=Memo Pad: Deadwood Piece Killed | last=James | first=Sara | newspaper=Women's Wear Daily | date=November 11, 2005 | url=http://www.wwd.com/notavailable/archive?target=/issue/article/102563}}
* {{cite news | title=Damaged Goods | last=Higginbotham | first=Adam | newspaper=The Telegraph | date=December 7, 2005 | url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2005/07/12/bajt12.xml | location=London}}
* {{cite news | title=Who's that boy/girl? | last=Barton | first=Laura | newspaper=The Guardian | date=January 4, 2006 | url=http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/generalfiction/story/0,,1677659,00.html | location=London}}
* {{cite news | title=You're No J.T. Leroy— Thank God. | last=Bright | first=Susie | publisher=Susie Bright's Journal
| date=January 8, 2006 | url=http://susiebright.blogs.com/susie_brights_journal_/2006/01/my_name_is_susi.html}}
* {{cite news | title=The Unmasking of JT Leroy: In Public, He's a She | last=St. John | first=Warren | newspaper=The New York Times | date=January 9, 2006 | url=http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/09/books/08cnd-book.html}}
* {{cite news | title=The Truth About JT Leroy | last=Ford | first=Paul | publisher=National Public Radio | date=January 9, 2006 | url=http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5139565}}
* {{cite news | title=Hiding and Lying: Two Authors Exposed | last=Maul| first=Kimberly| publisher=The Book Standard | date=January 9, 2006 | url= http://www.thebookstandard.com/bookstandard/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001808396}}
* {{cite news | title=New clues in mystery story of elusive S.F. author JT LeRoy | last=Benson | first=Heidi | newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle | date=January 10, 2006 | url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/01/10/MNGBHGL0F61.DTL}}
* {{cite news | title=LeRoy and the art of getting editors to work for free | last=Weigand | first=David | newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle | date=January 10, 2006 | url=http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/01/10/MNGBHGL0E81.DTL}}
* {{cite news | title=Author JT LeRoy called a hoax | last=Musbach | first=Tom | publisher=PlanetOut Network | date=January 10, 2006 | url=http://www.planetout.com/news/election/article.html?2006/01/10/1}}
* {{cite news | title=JT Leroy and Other Literary Phantoms (interview with Stephen Beachy) | last=Brenn | first=Madeleine | publisher=National Public Radio | date=January 10, 2006 | url=http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5147611}}
* {{cite news | title=I was conned by JT Leroy | last=Waldman | first=Ayelet | publisher=Salon | date=January 11, 2006 | url=http://www.salon.com/mwt/col/waldman/2006/01/11/jt_leroy/}}
* {{cite news | title=JT LeRoy hoax angers LGBT fans, writers | last=Letellier | first=Patrick | publisher=gay.com | date=January 12, 2006 | url=http://www.gay.com/news/roundups/package.html?sernum=1293}}
* {{cite news | title=Literary Poser 'JT Leroy' Fooled the Music Biz, Too | last=Walsh | first=Chris | publisher=The Book Standard | date=January 16, 2006 | url= http://www.thebookstandard.com/bookstandard/news/author/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001844399 }}
* {{cite news | title=Literary Foolers James Frey and JT Leroy Are Selling Just Fine | last=Maul| first=Kimberly| publisher=The Book Standard | date=January 18, 2006 | url= http://www.thebookstandard.com/bookstandard/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001880883 }}
* {{cite news | title=JT Leroy Photog: 'I Knew JT Was a Girl During 2001 Photo Shoot' | last=Lang| first=Daryl| publisher=The Book Standard | date=January 28, 2006 | url= http://www.thebookstandard.com/bookstandard/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001920363 }}
* {{cite news | title=Figure in JT Leroy Case Says Partner Is Culprit | last=St. John | first=Warren | newspaper=The New York Times | date=February 7, 2006 | url=http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/07/books/07lero.html?pagewanted=all}}
* {{cite news | title=Cult author's 'identity revealed' | publisher=BBC News | date=February 8, 2006 | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4692648.stm}}
* {{cite news | title=She is JT LeRoy
| last=Boulware | first=Jack | publisher=Salon | date=March 8, 2006 | url=http://www.salon.com/2006/03/08/albert_3/}}

==Footnotes==
{{Reflist|30em}} {{Reflist|30em}}


==External links== ==External links==
* *{{official website}}
*
*, a band
* , official site
* , ''LA Weekly'', February 20, 2008
*'''' review at Kirkus Reviews
*, review at ''Kirkus Reviews''
*

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{{Authority control}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leroy, Jt}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Leroy, Jt}}
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Latest revision as of 21:26, 29 January 2024

Literary persona adopted by writer Laura Albert For the film, see JT LeRoy (film).

Sarah signed by "JT LeRoy"

Jeremiah Terminator LeRoy, or simply JT LeRoy, is a literary persona created in the 1990s by American writer Laura Albert. LeRoy was presented as the author of three books of fiction, which were purportedly semi-autobiographical accounts by a teenage boy of his experiences of poverty, drug use, and emotional and sexual abuse in his childhood and adolescence from rural West Virginia to California. Albert wrote these works, and communicated with people in the persona of LeRoy via phone and e-mail. Following the release of the first novel Sarah, Albert's sibling-in-law Savannah Knoop began to make public appearances as the supposed writer. The works attracted considerable literary and celebrity attention, and the authenticity of LeRoy has been a subject of debate, even as details of the creation came to light in the 2000s.

Published works

Albert originally published as Terminator and later JT LeRoy.

By turns magical and realistic, the novel Sarah is narrated by a nameless boy whose mother Sarah is a lot lizard: a prostitute who works the truck stops in West Virginia. She can be abusive and abandoning, yet he longs for her love and tries to follow in her world, working for a pimp who specializes in "boy-girls".
Ten short stories that form a novel about the childhood of LeRoy, torn from his foster parents at age four when his emotionally disturbed mother reclaims him and then runs away with him. She alternately clings to LeRoy and abandons him, subjecting him to patterns of abuse and exploitation she has suffered throughout her life.
  • Harold's End (2005)
The novella follows a young heroin addict who is befriended by Larry, an older man, from whom he receives an unusual pet. Illustrations are by Australian artist Cherry Hood. Published by Last Gasp.

Contributions to other written works

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Work credited to LeRoy was published in literary journals such as Francis Ford Coppola's Zoetrope: All-Story, McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, Memorious, and Oxford American magazine's Seventh Annual Music Issue. LeRoy was listed as a contributing editor to BlackBook magazine, i-D and 7x7 magazines, and is credited with writing reviews, articles, and interviews for The New York Times, The Times of London, Spin, Film Comment, Filmmaker, Flaunt, Shout NY, Index Magazine, Interview, and Vogue, among others.

LeRoy's work has also appeared in such anthologies as The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2003, MTV's Lit Riffs, XXX: 30 Porn-Star Portraits, Nadav Kander's Beauty's Nothing, and The Fourth Sex: Adolescent Extremes. LeRoy is also listed as guest editor for Da Capo's Best Music Writing 2005.

Additionally, LeRoy was credited with liner notes and biographies for musicians Billy Corgan, Liz Phair, Conor Oberst, Ash, Bryan Adams, Marilyn Manson, Nancy Sinatra and Courtney Love and profiled award-winner Juergen Teller.

Circumstances of LeRoy's creation

Calling a suicide hotline in the 1990s, Albert reached Dr. Terrence Owens, a psychologist with the McAuley Adolescent Psychiatric Program at St. Mary's Medical Center in San Francisco. Owens did not know her as Laura Albert at the time, but as "Jeremiah" or "Terminator". Owens is credited with encouraging "Jeremiah" or "Terminator" to write during their phone therapy sessions. Albert also recorded conversations without Owens' consent, and these illegally recorded phone calls made their way into the 2016 documentary Author: The JT LeRoy Story.

Albert explained the circumstances of LeRoy's existence in a 2006 interview in The Paris Review with Nathaniel Rich; she described her troubled history and her alleged personal experiences with abuse, abandonment, sex work, gender identity, and her need, since childhood, to create alternate personae (chiefly over the telephone) as a psychological survival mechanism, through which she could articulate her own ideas and feelings.

At her 2007 fraud trial, Albert described LeRoy as her "veil".

Exposure

Throughout the 1990s, virtually no one had ever glimpsed the reclusive author. Then, in 2001, a person wearing a wig and sunglasses began appearing in public, claiming to be LeRoy.

In August 2005, journalist John Nova Lomax published the article "Coal Miner Mother of a Mess" in the Houston Press, casting doubt on the particulars of LeRoy's story. Lomax recounted his frustrated attempts to contact LeRoy by e-mail, pointed out several obvious discrepancies of fact, and cast doubt on LeRoy's existence. A few months later, Stephen Beachy, in an October 2005 article in New York magazine, revealed that LeRoy was indeed a fictional creation, invented by writer Laura Albert, and that LeRoy's purported public appearances in wig and sunglasses were made by an actor. Beachy asserted that Albert had been posing as LeRoy's caretaker and spokesperson, calling herself "Speedie", under the false premise that LeRoy lived with Albert and her husband Geoffrey Knoop, who used the pseudonym "Astor".

In January 2006, journalist Warren St. John revealed his finding in The New York Times that the person posing as LeRoy in a wig and sunglasses for six years was 25-year-old Savannah Knoop, Geoffrey Knoop's sibling. In a subsequent article, St. John published details of an interview with Geoffrey Knoop, in which Knoop confirmed that LeRoy did not exist, and that his sibling was LeRoy's public face. Knoop also admitted to St. John that Laura Albert had written the works published as LeRoy's.

In 2008, Savannah Knoop published a memoir, Girl Boy Girl: How I Became JT LeRoy, about their six-year career as an impersonator.

Film option and lawsuit

Antidote International Films, Inc., and its president Jeffrey Levy-Hinte announced plans for a film adaptation of Sarah to be directed by Steven Shainberg. According to The New York Times, when Shainberg "learned who had truly written Sarah an inspiration came to him to make a 'meta-film', a triple-layered movie that would blend the novel with the lives of its real and purported authors in a project he took to calling Sarah Plus." The New York Times also reported that this new project "required the rights to Laura Albert's story, rights that she in no uncertain terms refused to grant".

In June 2007 Antidote sued Laura Albert for fraud, claiming that a contract signed by Albert in LeRoy's name to make a feature film of Sarah was null and void. A jury found against Albert in the sum of $116,500, holding that the use of the pseudonym to sign the film rights contract was fraudulent.

In art and popular culture

Armistead Maupin's 2000 novel The Night Listener features the case of Anthony Godby Johnson, which is similar to that of LeRoy.

In 2013 filmmaker Michael Arias claimed LeRoy for his inspiration in translating Taiyo Matsumoto's manga Sunny.

At a 2013 symposium with filmmaker J. J. Abrams and Doug Dorst in New York, actress and writer Lena Dunham said that LeRoy "co-opted my imagination for a full year of my life. It was pretty remarkable. And then you also go, 'This person isn't who they claim to be, but they still wrote this book that captured all of our imaginations, so then why does the identity of the author even matter when you're reading fiction and engaging with it in a really personal way?'" That same year, Laura Albert told Interview, "You know, JT LeRoy does not exist. But he lives. That's what a famous film historian once said about Bugs Bunny."

In 2014 interviewer Dylan Samson on the LastLook App blog stated that "Albert had ingeniously hacked the literary establishment".

In March 2014 the San Francisco Chronicle reported that the Academy of Friends Oscar Party in San Francisco invited JT LeRoy – played by gender fluid fashion model Rain Dove Dubilewski – to walk the runway as part of its HIV/AIDS fundraiser.

As part of the artist and filmmaker Lynn Hershman Leeson’s 2014 exhibition "How To Disappear," she premiered her video The Ballad of JT LeRoy, examining Laura Albert's use of the literary persona JT LeRoy. Reflecting on the parallels between JT LeRoy and her own alter ego Roberta Breitmore, Hershman Leeson has commented:

The concept of an alter ego is not new at all. Writers have been protecting themselves in that way for centuries. Mary Shelley did it. Of course Laura took this practice further and I think that was very smart and I do not think she deserves the kind of condemnation that she got. If I had done the Roberta thing ten years later, I would have faced the same problems.

The story of JT LeRoy was the subject of a 2018 feature film based on Savannah Knoop's memoir. Directed by Justin Kelly, the film starred Laura Dern as Laura Albert and Kristen Stewart as Knoop.

Documentaries about LeRoy include Author: The JT LeRoy Story (2016) directed by Jeff Feuerzeig, and The Cult of JT LeRoy (2015) directed by Marjorie Sturm.

References

  1. What to Stream Now (June 2, 2008). "Laura Albert Versus Savannah Knoop: Who Is the Real Fake JT LeRoy?". Vulture. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
  2. "Laura Albert" (PDF). Jtleroy.com. June 20, 2014. Retrieved November 20, 2016.
  3. LeRoy, JT. Sarah. Bloomsbury USA (June 9, 2000) ISBN 1-58234-146-X.
  4. LeRoy, JT. The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things. Bloomsbury USA Hardcover (June 9, 2001) ISBN 1-58234-142-7 Paperback (June 1, 2002) ISBN 1-58234-211-3.
  5. LeRoy, JT. Harold's End. Last Gasp (January 30, 2005) ISBN 0-86719-614-9. Originally in McSweeney's Quarterly Concern Issue 7. Italian translation La fine di Harold by Martina Testa. Fazio Editore 2003. ISBN 88-8112-387-8.
  6. LeRoy, JT (ed). Da Capo Best Music Writing 2005: The Year's Finest Writing on Rock, Hip-hop, Jazz, Pop, Country & More. Da Capo Press (October 30, 2005) ISBN 0-306-81446-3
  7. ^ "Figure in JT LeRoy Case Says Partner Is Culprit". The New York Times. February 7, 2006.
  8. "Soul-baring fiction author J.T. LeRoy plays with gender—and identity. Does it really matter who he is?". SFGate. December 17, 2005. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
  9. Moynihan, Colin (September 11, 2016). "Argento and Others Are Angry About Being in JT Leroy Documentary". The New York Times. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
  10. Rich, Nathaniel (Fall 2006). "Being JT LeRoy (excerpt)". The Paris Review (178). Archived from the original on September 16, 2006.
  11. "JT LeRoy author ordered to pay triple-sized costs | Books". The Guardian. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
  12. ^ "Who is JT LeRoy? The True Identity of a Great Literary Hustler". Nymag.com. October 7, 2005. Retrieved November 20, 2016.
  13. John Nova Lomax, "Coal Miner Mother of a Mess", Houston Press (August 25, 2005).
  14. ^ This is the woman who played the man who became a transsexual and fooled the world for six years, The Guardian, November 2, 2008
  15. Warren St. John (January 9, 2006). "The Unmasking of JT Leroy: In Public, He's a She". The New York Times. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
  16. Feuer, Alan (June 22, 2007). "In Writer's Trial, a Conflict Over Roles of Art and Money". The New York Times. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
  17. Feuer, Alan (August 1, 1007). ""Judge Orders Author to Pay Film Company $350,000 in Legal Fees"". The New York Times. Retrieved November 20, 2016.
  18. Writer Testifies About Source of Nom de Plume By Alan Feuer, The New York Times, Published: June 20, 2007.
  19. Westfeldt, Amy (June 23, 2007). "Jury: novel bought by company fraudulent". USA Today. Associated Press.
  20. "The 'Sunny' side of Taiyo Matsumoto". The Japan Times.
  21. CuInAnotherLifeBro (November 29, 2013). "JJ Abrams and Doug Dorst w/ Lena Dunham discuss S. #whoisStraka (2/4)". Archived from the original on December 21, 2021 – via YouTube.
  22. "Laura Albert". interviewmagazine.com. July 10, 2013.
  23. Samson, Dylan (June 24, 2014). "5 Questions for Writer, Laura Albert". LastLook App. Archived from the original on January 9, 2015.
  24. "Long-lost Ukrainian uncle has left you $5 million". www.sfgate.com. March 10, 2014.
  25. "Immediate Kinship: Laura Albert on Lynn Hershman Leeson |". Archived from the original on September 15, 2016.
  26. "Interview | Lynn Hershman Leeson – KubaParis".
  27. "Author: The JT LeRoy Story (2016) - IMDb". IMDb.
  28. "The Cult of JT LeRoy (2014) - IMDb". IMDb.

External links

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