From Dennis at The Cult (the official Chuck Palahniuk website):

I just got off the phone with Doubleday and everything seems to be returning to normal around here. Obviously, there was some controversy over the audioblog Chuck left two nights ago from the airport en route to England.

But if any of you don't know yet, Chuck admitted that he has been living with a male partner for the past 11 years and that he is the love of Chuck's life. What followed was 17 pages of feedback from his fans which included some of the most beautiful posts I've ever seen on this site.

Chuck's fans (obviously) stood behind him on this decision and the entire coming out just seemed to bring everyone together on their love for this author even more. Go Chuck!

But unfortunately, this coming out was tainted by some words Chuck said about the Entertainment Weekly reporter, Karen Velby. And so I was asked by both Doubleday and Chuck to remove the audioblog as well as the News post.

Let me make this clear: I don't take orders from Doubleday and Chuck on anything. But when the guy who you do this site for personally requests that you remove something he said at a very volatile moment in his life...you listen to his request.

I would hope that you all understand that the removal of the audioblog has nothing to do with Chuck's recanting that he came out of the closet. Chuck is on tour right now in London, England for three Diary readings. But he will be leaving a new audioblog tonight at midnight, London time.

So for today, I would ask that people stop sending hatemail to Karen Velby and Entertainment Weekly. While it's never been my business on this site to stop people from doing this sort of thing, I won't ever urge it.

I'm not going to comment on Karen Velby's character. I have no opinion of her and I never felt the need to contact her or write her any hatemail in the wake of all this. I just wasn't crazy about her article. Big deal. There's been plenty of articles/reviews on Chuck that I think sort of missed the mark.

So as the tide blows over, let's just wait to see what Chuck has to say next.

Wow, first he makes people pass out at his readings with his story "Guts", now this. He sure is surprising the hell out of his fans lately.

Puts a different spin on Fight Club, doesn't it?

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Now Reading:
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

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