This image was lost some time after publication.

Amid all the excitement about Warren St. John's positive identification in today's Times of the (female) actor who's been playing "JT Leroy," and the concomitant final proof that "Leroy" is almost certainly the creation of San Francisco couple Laura Albert and Geoffery Knoop, New York magazine doesn't want you to forget its writer said it, too. And months ago. (Except, you know, without identifying the person who appears as "Leroy" in public, or being willing to remove a lot of likelys and probablys from the expose.)

A press release reminding people of the earlier story arrived in reporters' inboxes around town this morning, including even a handy timeline:

November 14, 2004. The New York Times publishes "A Literary Life Born of Brutality," a straightforward profile of JT Leroy, by Warren St. John

September 25, 2005. The New York Times publishes "Uncle Walt, Parlez-Vous Francais?" by JT Leroy n its "T" magazine.

October 17, 2005. New York magazine publishes Stephen Beachy's investigation proving definitively that JT Leroy is a fraud whose work is actually penned by writer Laura Albert, and that the public figure posing as JT Leroy is neither Albert nor "Leroy."
[LINK]

January 9, 2006. The New York Times publishes a story confirming that JT Leroy is indeed Laura Albert, that the public figure playing JT Leroy is an associate of Albert's, and that it had hired this writer under false pretenses.
[LINK]

The full New York release is after the jump, but we can save you the trouble of clicking through. In one line: "Oh! Oh! Oh! Us too! Us too! Guuuuuys! Us too!"

For Immediate Release
January 9, 2006
Contact: Serena Torrey
212-508-XXXX

Writer JT Leroy is actually Laura Albert, New York Magazine Discovered in October 2005

In January 2006, The New York Times Agreed

Times Had Recently Hired Fraudulent "Reporter"

In October 2005, Steven Beachy reported in New York magazine that famed writer JT Leroy was a fabrication of a San Francisco-area woman, Laura Albert. After more than a year of investigation, Beachy determined that Albert was most likely penning "Leroy's" books and articles, and that Leroy's public persona, an oft-photographed figure who appeared alongside celebrities at parties in New York and San Francisco, was an impostor.

Today, three months after New York's investigation made news, the New York Times, which had recently profiled and hired "Leroy" as a legitimate writer, "reported" that Leroy, who'd recently written for the Times, was indeed Laura Albert.

A Timeline:

November 14, 2004. The New York Times publishes "A Literary Life Born of Brutality," a straightforward profile of JT Leroy, by Warren St. John

September 25, 2005. The New York Times publishes "Uncle Walt, Parlez-Vous Francais?" by JT Leroy n its "T" magazine.

October 17, 2005. New York magazine publishes Stephen Beachy's investigation proving definitively that JT Leroy is a fraud whose work is actually penned by writer Laura Albert, and that the public figure posing as JT Leroy is neither Albert nor "Leroy."
[LINK]

January 9, 2006. The New York Times publishes a story confirming that JT Leroy is indeed Laura Albert, that the public figure playing JT Leroy is an associate of Albert's, and that it had hired this writer under false pretenses.
[LINK]

Stephen Beachy is Available for Comment

# # #