JT LeRoy

JT LeRoy

Jeremiah "Terminator" LeRoy is an identity created by American writer Laura Albert. The name was used from 1996 on for publication in magazines such as Nerve and Shout NY. After his first novel Sarah was published, "LeRoy" started making public appearances. In a January 2006 article in The New York Times, LeRoy's agent, manager, movie producer, as well as several journalists, declared that the person acting as LeRoy in public was Savannah Knoop, the half-sister of Albert's then partner, Geoffrey Knoop.

LeRoy was supposedly born October 31, 1980 in West Virginia. His backstory was one of prostitution, drug addiction and vagrancy in California, prior to the publication of his first novel in 1999. However, an exposé in October 2005 revealed that JT LeRoy was Laura Albert. In a February 2006 interview with The New York Times, Geoffrey Knoop stated that Laura Albert was the author of the LeRoy books, which Albert later confirmed.

Albert described LeRoy as a "veil" rather than a "hoax", and claimed that she was able to write things as LeRoy that she could not have said as Laura Albert. In 2007 Albert was convicted of fraud and ordered to pay reparations for having signed legal papers in the name of her fictional character. Elements of the JT LeRoy hoax inspired "Sweetie", a 2008 episode of Law & Order.

Read more about JT LeRoy:  Supporters, Personal Appearances, Exposure, Controversy