Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Jack E. Jett, First Openly Gay Talk Show Host, Dies at 58


Late on this, but just learned that my pal Jack E. Jett -- a former model, AIDS activist, talk-show host and one-time Go-Go's road manager/personal assistant to Belinda Carlisle -- died of a heart attack in March after celebrating his anniversary with his longtime lover, John Gennusa. (Today would have been his 59th birthday.) I'm heartbroken.

His obituary reads like a celebrity memoir HERE and the Dallas Voice wrote a beautiful remembrance of the inimitable host of "The Jack E. Jett Show," "On Q Live" and "The Queer Edge" HERE.

Rest in peace, my friend.


His last two emails to me will show you what a hoot -- and gossip -- he was. :-(
Hey Ken ....Very sad way I remembered I hadn't emailed you back. My brother passed away and it hit me because his name was Kenneth too. Outside of that, things are going well. I have totally retired from everything. I spend my time tons of long form magazine articles and watching documentaries. My partner (23 years) works out of the house so we have to also work at not getting in each other's way. Plus spending a lot of time with friends and taking advantage of free screenings. I am an overly curious person so I love reading only about the things that interest me at the moment although I do admit I miss having a format to regurgitate it. I hear very little from Belinda these days. We use to chat on the phone a lot but since she relocated to LA, she seems to be more out of whack. What is weird is that I never hear from her Dukey, not even a return email, and I have known him since he was born. I really have such high hopes for him and hope he can figure out what he wants to do. The doors in Hollywood do not keep opening forever no matter how young, cute or who yo mama might be. By any chance do you know what happened to Kathy V. It was weird when I heard about it as she seemed to be the one B. got along with more than the others. And when I asked her about it, she was so vague and the reasoning didn't make any sense. ...........Other than that, my nipples have finally stopped growing and my scrotal sack hangs lower than it use to. Plus I have noticed with age that my pubes seem to grow longer and longer to the point I could braid them if I didn't cut them. 
ken......just a follow up.......right after I sent you the above note, I found all sorts of stuff on your site. ...........this is why Belinda asked me (during this time) if I had talked to you which I thought was odd.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Thanks for writing this Kenneth. I never knew Jack personally, but got to know him online through the community of commenters on the various Dallas Observer blogs years back. We would correspond sometimes and I was always impressed (and sometimes shocked) by his showmanship, cutting wit and political nerve. I was *stunned* when I looked on Facebook one day and saw he's suddenly died. I'll never forget him!