Author! Author! Author!

Whoever thought these three luminaries (looniaries) would be spoken in the same breath? JT LeRoy, James Frey and Teddy Kennedy! There, I've said it! First, the Swimmer (as Bob Grant once referred to him) has come out with a literary work, but not the kind you might think--- check out Ms. Malkin's Blog for the name of the main character and more... As for Frey, he's the man --- the man who CONNED OPRAH! "...a six-week investigation by The Smoking Gun reveals that there may be a lot less to love about Frey's runaway hit, which has sold more than 3.5 million copies and, thanks to Winfrey, has sat atop The New York Times nonfiction paperback best seller list for the past 15 weeks... Police reports, court records, interviews with law enforcement personnel, and other sources have put the lie to many key sections of Frey's book. The 36-year-old author, these documents and interviews show, wholly fabricated or wildly embellished details of his purported criminal career, jail terms, and status as an outlaw "wanted in three states." (SmokingGun). Ah, what's one more little lie, anyway?

Next, JT LeRoy: JT is a SHE! Lots of "sneaky-sneak" stuff in the New York Times! "... the young man in the wig and sunglasses, it turns out, is not a man at all. The public role of JT Leroy is played by Savannah Knoop, Geoffrey Knoop's half sister, who is in her mid-20's.

A photograph of Ms. Knoop at a 2003 opening for a clothing store in San Francisco was discovered online. Five intimates of Mr. Leroy's, including his literary agent, his business manager and the producer of a forthcoming movie based on one of his books, were shown the photograph and identified Ms. Knoop as the person they have known as JT Leroy..." (NYT).

The mysterious JT LeRoy was the subject of an October 2005 article in New York Magazine. When the New York article (and a subsequent post here on the Capital Region People blog) first appeared, there were questions: Who is JT Leroy? Does anyone really know? How many bloggers out there are as liquid and elusive as JT? Is JT a real, individual person, or a hoax? Is the Acclaimed JT LeRoy Just a Character Himself? (s)He ONCE fooled the New York Times... last year the newspaper ran a profile of LeRoy. In it, the reporter meets a 5-foot-5 person with a "girlish voice...conversation punctuated with childlike yelps when something pleases him." LeRoy is described as a sweet, traumatized and streetwise victim, grateful to be alive and avidly networking with a welter of famous fans. Madonna, he said, had sent him a book on Kabbalah.

Hey --- Wait a minute! Madonna has written children's books --- you don't suppose she sent a copy of that book on Kabbalah to Teddy Kennedy too????

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