We begin again with yet another installment of this ONTD Original on really really really weird and sometimes upsetting scandals in the literary world.
JT LeRoyYou're such a delicate boy
In the hysterical realm
Of an emotional landslide
In physical terms
With your cherry lips and golden curls
You could make grown men gasp
When you'd go walking past them
In your hot pants and high heels
They could not believe
That such a body was for realJeremiah "Terminator" LeRoy (yeah idgi either) is a fictitious persona created by con-artist and impersonator Laura Albert. She wrote books under the JT persona, talking about "his" life as an HIV positive teenage boy living in poverty who experiences emotional and sexual abuse in rural West Virginia. Albert published these works in the 1990's, with one, The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things, being turned into a film starring Asia Argento, an uncredited Winona Ryder, and the Sprouse twins (dressed as a girl and almost raped...) before they became insufferable. "He" allegedly wrote liner notes and biographies for musicians Billy Corgan, Liz Phair, Conor Oberst, Bryan Adams, Marilyn Manson, Nancy Sinatra and Courtney Love among others. In 2001, a person in a wig and sunglasses appeared in public, claiming to be LeRoy. In 2005 Laura Albert was exposed for the shitty hack that she is. You see, I am having trouble trying to relate all this info to you, because its just that insane. She eventually got sued and had to pay up, because karma is a bitch. Shirley Manson read the first two LeRoy books, and was inspired to write Cherry Lips (Go Baby Go), which is the only good thing to come out of this whole shitshow. BTW, Asia Argento is
pissed about appearing in the 2003 film.
Margaret SeltzerBefore "Cash me Ousside Howbow Dah", there was Margaret Seltzer. Ms Margaret was a silly bitch who wrote a book called Love and Consequences: A Memoir of Hope and Survival, about growing up a half white, half Native American foster child and Bloods gang member in LA. The book was a harrowing account of how she struggled to survive life on the streets as a teenager and was of course embraced by Oprah Winfrey. But the truth was even worse. Seltzer was 100% vanilla white white girl. She made the whole thing up. But don't think that its just that. She called stations like NPR and used a faux African American vernacular dialect, and referred to gang members as homies. The book was recalled when her own damn sister ratted her out.
The Boy Who Came Back From HeavenNo, this isn't Heaven is for Real. That's another flop book. This book is the harrowing account of a young boy named Alex Malarkey who got in a severe car accident with his dad and then an angel came and carried him to heaven or something? Basically the doctors pumped him up with that IV drip. Anyway, people found it moving, inspiring, etc. Basically everything you can get from a religious based book about a young white boy. He was left quadriplegic as a result. In 2012, his mother wrote several blog posts saying that her family is not in agreement with the content of the book. She expressed frustration with several people calling and visiting their home over the years, saying,
"Alex is just a boy not a statue to be worshipped or person with some supernatural gifts," and,
"He does not go to Heaven, have conversations with supernatural beings, and whatever visions/experiences he has had or had not had, is up to him as to what he will do with those." She also revealed that Alex himself had written a comment on the book's Facebook page in November 2011 calling the book
"one of the most deceptive books ever." That comment was deleted, and Alex was banned from commenting after the moderators suspected he was an imposter. His parents became estranged, and eventually Alex revealed the whole thing was faked and that he did it because he wanted to be an attention whore. I guess you could say that's a whole lotta Malarkey.
Next Time: Misha, Norma Khouri, A Child Called "It", The Painted Bird, and more!
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