A key player in
the "JT LeRoy" literary scam has stepped forward and
confessed, reports The New York Times. Geoffrey
Knoop told the Times in a phone interview on
Sunday that his partner of 16 years, Laura Albert, wrote the
books and stories attributed to LeRoy and that she conducted
phone conversations in a West Virginia accent as LeRoy
when speaking to editors, journalists, and fans. "The
jig is up," said Knoop, 39. "I do want to apologize to
people who were hurt," he added. "It got to a level I
didn't expect." Knoop says Albert created the guise of
a gay teen runaway to attract the attention of novelist
Dennis Cooper, thinking that Cooper would be less interested
in helping a woman in her 30s. Cooper was one of the
first champions of LeRoy, whose original pieces were
published under the name "Terminator."
Knoop said he ran
a lot of the day-to-day affairs for LeRoy and that his
half-sister, Savannah Knoop, portrayed LeRoy in public
appearances. He and Laura Albert separated in
December, partially over the stress caused by the
hoax, and they are embroiled in a custody battle over their
son. Knoop also told the Times he has engaged
an entertainment lawyer in the hopes of selling the
story of the JT LeRoy con job as a movie.
(Advocate.com)
