Thank you so much for all you do and have done for the community. I'm so sorry that woman has taken advantage of you and your colleagues' hard work in such an unbelievably selfish and cynical way. How you can sit with dying human beings acting as if you have empathy and then turn around and start calling yourself an angel while trampling the legacy of the real victims and activists? I just don't understand.
Tim, thank you for all of your insight and for sharing the truth about your community. You're such a light and we have so much to learn from your experiences. Have you ever considered writing a book of your own? Not necessarily as a response to a certain someone's book, but more of a memoir of your own. I would love to hear more about your life and the community in Hot Springs, AR.
Thank you for producing this, our community will be better because of the research you put into this. Tim is an amazing advocate and I, on behalf of many people that we assist through our clinic thank him! The struggle with our cause is still real and we continue to provide hope and help with each person and thats our goal. Hot Springs is a town full of good caring people. Again, THANK YOU!
Thank YOU, Mike!!! Thank you again so much for that phone call last year and for the work you've done in Hot Springs and how much you clearly care about it and the people who live there, it's genuinely been an honor to be able to put all of this together. You and Tim were so crucial in this video coming out anywhere near as comprehensive as it did. I'm so, so glad to hear you like the video
Thank you and everyone at the clinic for doing the long, unwavering work that is the counterbalance to the grifters of the world. Watching this made me outraged and frustrated - but because there are people like you in every story, these are not the feelings that are going to stay with me.
I work in HIV advocacy and words cannot express how glad I am to see this video out here. Thank you so much for putting the focus on the people and the community at the centre of this story. I’ve been in community org/grassroots work for almost 20 years now and there’s always a few people who want to be self-styled superstar activists, padding their resumes and getting all the glory and awards and book deals while the actual hard, unglamorous, day to day work of our movements is done by people just taking care of and trying to move with integrity in our communities. The true story is always less pat, but much richer, more diverse, and dare I say empowering than the self-mythologizing of people like Ruth.
@@ophie-dokie 💕💕💕 (Just a quick note, and it’s not a huge deal but I figured I’d mention it, but a lot of advocates these days use phrasing like “people living with HIV” or “HIV-positive people” instead of language like “infected with” because it’s just a little bit less loaded. It obviously depends on the person/context though! Just a lil’ scootch of feedback for the nuance corner. Keep up the great work!)
I can't believe how little reach this story got. I'm so chronically online and I had never heard that she was a scammer until you told me about it. Her book is still recommended on all kinds of queer book lists.
“A lot of times we don’t really realize there are outsiders who are really insiders, watching from afar, celebrating our purpose.” Crying more, Tim, what a beautifully said sentiment. I feel this so hard right now with everything happening in the world and my own insanely stressful life ❤
I was hesitant to watch this video since it’s not my usual content, but I’ve liked everything on this channel so far, and WOW!!! I was blown away by this story and how you covered it. The interviews in particular were so impactful, and I love the emphasis on connecting with our elders and forming a stronger sense of community. Also, huge appreciation for the sensitive way you talk about Arkansas and the Bible Belt generally. Just generally love all of this, and am looking forward to seeing you cover more topics!
Thank you so much!! I'm so glad to hear you enjoyed it after taking a chance!! I really love Arkansas and the south even though I don't live there anymore. I've been really endeared by how Chappell Roan speaks about the Midwest and how encouraging that is to her audience that there can be people like her and like them all over and you don't /have/ to move to a big city and may even find that you don't like it once you're there and that that's fine and that you have as much of a right to where you're from as anyone. I think we could really stand to talk about the south that way more too, and I was happy this was such a good opportunity to do that.
when i started the video i expected the problem with her story to just be that it was so centered on herself. then i spent hours growing more and more shocked as i realized haw bad her story actually was. i hadnt actually heard of the topic at all befire, but this was a super interesting deep dive.
I was really hoping I was going to be able to present a "what she did was good but maybe let's think about the people in the community who also did stuff" approach when I first clicked into that Today article when I googled her last year and then it was sooo much worse than I could have imagined. Thank you so much for giving it a shot!!
I just got to when you’re talking about replacing their headstones- Ophie I am sobbing, well done. You really did it, it feels so right. I adore chronically online lesbians and the true change they can enact ❤🎉
Can't believe I've never heard of Ruth before! I'm so glad all these people who passed from AIDS are getting the proper recognition they deserve. The new headstone is beautiful.
OMG, I remember reading an "indepth" article about this woman in a respectable broadsheet paper here in the UK. Of course, none of this was in the piece so thank you. Thank you for making this video and getting the truth out there.
I actually almost cried when Tim revealed the new marker. It's so beautiful and I'm so happy that they are finally able to rest together as they always deserved. Makes me just sick how people can so gleefully take advantage of those so much less fortunate than them and feel justified in doing so... I hope Ruth gets what she deserves in the end...
I am so moved by this project. I cried a lot and felt an immense amount of rage. Hearing about the people who lost their lives too soon is heartbreaking. The injustice that stems from our country's lack of response to the AIDS crisis is haunting. I often think about the fathers, uncles, mothers, aunts, siblings, friends, cousins, and loved ones we're missing because of this tragedy. There's a grief in our community that will never end. Seeing Tim share the new headstone for Timothy and Jimmy was beautiful. His dedication was so thoughtful. I'm so glad you were able to connect and share their stories. Seeing the tribute to their love was a gift. It's such a shame that someone used the end of these men's lives to profit and inflate her own ego. It's despicable. I have no idea how she was faced with the tragedy of the AIDS crisis and found a way to make it all about herself. I hope the truth persists and people find out exactly who RCB is. It's concerning to me that the first results when you Google her name are all complimentary. Thank you for putting so much work into sharing this story. More people need to know about the grift, but more importantly, those you've highlighted who continually cared for and provided medical services to those living with AIDS. I enjoyed hearing about Daymon's life and activism as well. I admire the optimistic approach he took to his activism and education. There's so much hope and light in our community, even in the most difficult times. I wish the community of Hot Springs, AR nothing but love and peace.
It's absolutely disgusting that she used passed on victims to further her own image. Thank you, Tim Looper and your friend for remembering Jimmy and Tim with that beautiful headstone.
This was a beautiful and important video, it got me very emotional seeing the new memorial for Tim and Jimmy and hearing their story. I'm so angry for all the real victims and activists she erased and I hope this 'angel' gets what's coming to her.
Will edit as I make my way through it, but this is really good! I commented before that your pop culture videos were some of the best (discourse and quality wise) I've seen and continue that claim by extending it to your general videos. This felt very personal (compassionate, empathetic) but professional (good grasp of ethics, actually talking to people involved, doing thorough research, etc.) Really good job. Looking forward to seeing your future videos!
Thank you so much!!!! I appreciate this so so much, I definitely felt like I had kind of established a bit of a comfort in pop culture videos while I was honing the video making skills before this one and wasn't quite sure how to translate tone and still get across my level of personal involvement without having it be too much of an "okay here's my take" thing when we're actually fact checking lies, it's super validating to know I'm able to tackle the big stuff well too I really really appreciate you saying so
This video infuriated me and broke my heart overall, but I have to say, I loved listening to Tim. He’s great and I loved how he could be a little shady about Ruth! I hope he can find some peace knowing that there’s lots of people now hearing him and the true story💕 Tim Looper RU-vid channel when?!
Thank you!!! Highly recommend subscribing to Tim Looper on facebook if you use fb still! he does lives sometimes!! I'm definitely going to have him back on the channel for future videos too, love him so so much
I was only vaguely aware of this story because of friends I have in Missouri. I never knew the actual details, but the further into the video I got the more horrifying it became. I hope more people stumble on this. Thank you for all your hard work!
I've only heard of this story in passing but thank you for telling it in this was- I haven't finished the video but i can tell how much tim cares and i'm so glad i was able to hear his story
thank you so much!! I love Tim. I say it in the video a bunch but it's so true, I feel so so happy to have had the chance to let him tell this story and to know I had people on this channel who would be as glad as I was to hear his version of it
I had been meaning to read her book, and this video finally got me to pick it up from the library. The writing was truly insufferable, haha. I really appreciate you debunking her bullshit and putting the focus back on the people and community of Hot Springs. ❤ Also, as a frequent contributor to Find a Grave, I was touched by the beautiful monument for Jimmy and Tim. It struck me how Jimmy passed so soon after Tim, and on his birthday even. And then Ruth didn't even get the date right in the book (she said he passed on April 12th). A LOT of things about the book rubbed me the wrong way but that really stuck in my craw. Anyway, great video. ❤ I appreciate the thoroughness with which you debunked this and the kindness and compassion with which you approached the topic. Thank you.
Thank you for what you did for Tim and Jimmy ❤ I’m heartbroken to hear about their stories and the stories of countless others that have been disrespected by that woman. As a straight woman, we don’t claim her🙅🏼♀️
This really flew by - which is impressive considering you made me follow you down this rabbit hole for 3 entire hours! Kudos to you for all the work and dedication to nuance that went into this. I had not heard about her before, and I'm glad this is the first take I'm getting on this story.
hello I've already started crying within the first ten minutes. one of the best men in my life is my godfather, a gay man who lived through this era and who will probably be getting this link from me in about three hours. thanks for this research and for presenting it to us. ps I am obsessed with your glasses they are my favorite color
When I read about her, it seemed okay. When I watched her interview, I could tell she was an attention seeker. I just watched a video where she shared the stage with Cleve Jones, who is an icon. He was a strong leader in San Francisco, during the early days of AIDS. (The AIDS Quilt was his idea). They were both being honored. She's not just ruthless, she is shameless.
This was an incredible video. I hadn't heard of this story before. I'm glad you were able to get such incredible people involved in this project. I hope this video spreads far and wide :-)
thank you so much!!! I'm so so happy I got to interview Tim and Mike for this, definitely no way this video could have been anywhere near as in depth without either of them and they also both happen to be incredibly nice to talk/listen to.
ok actually you know the phrasing of "buried in chipped cookie jars" normalized so hard over the last ten months for me I def could have made it much more clear I meant post cremation. Swung all the way through to the other side like when a word stops sounding like a word anymore. (It's also a weird wrinkle in her lie, why say all those chipped cookie jars even exist? Wouldn't it be even harder to check any of this if instead of saying she owns the cemetery she'd said she was doing ash scattering ceremonies. It's so weird.)
Aw thanks for your response! Additional context for me: I’m Jewish, so cremation hasn’t really been an option since before WWII. For obvious reasons, after the events of that time, Jewish families have been averse to the method.
I never bought her story when she first started looking for her 5 minutes of Fame. Secretly people in town were not buying her story as many knew her checkered past.
this is a crazy story and immediatley going to show it to all my friends. I have actually been to hot springs arkansas once for my birthday as a kid because i was that into rock collecting 😭 but its amazing to know this bit of true history
I hope that should ghosts exist, the ghosts of the gay men she disrespected so much in her book & whose grave markers she allowed to mold over. May her name become only remembered in infamy & repulsion.
i'm only halfway in, but the ruth woman sounds awful. basically what if irena sendler heavily embellished her story and sought spotlight (she didn't btw), throw in dash of mother theresa's bullshit plus the memoir sounds like someone read 'a little life' and took the message of 'being gay means you're gonna suffer and there's nothing you can do about it' to heart
sidenote but celebrity memoir is a strange genre... you either get fluff meant to improve one's image, testimonies to how someone's absolutely insufferable but doesn't seem to see the problem. most rare type isnsomething vunerable and honest. i think the only two good memoirs i recently read were Mariah's and Constance Wu's 🤔 didn't make me dislike them and rather had me gain a new perspective on them. like you can read Mariah's book as 'austistic woman with great songwriting talent'. Constance Wu's book is very underrated for how well it's written and also how harrowing the mistreatment on FOTB set she got was. memoirs of people like RuPaul are basically 'american exceptionalism but make it a person' and 'i'm not gonna talk about the man that did my makeup and hair for decades because we had a falling out'. Ruth's book sounds like a miserable read. Makes it even worse knowing that with that book out she continues her grift... eww
I'm very interested in Constance Wu's book!! I have her on my list of "women to defend" for a later video because I'm aware that her upset tweets the night Fresh Off The Boat were renewed were because she was being terrorized on set and she was painted as SUCH a diva about that when it made sense for her to be exhausted with playing that role I thought even before I knew about what was going on behind the scenes, but I haven't read the memoir yet, I'm glad to hear that it's a good read!! I definitely find celebrity memoir hit or miss. I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jeanette McCurdy obviously being so good it barely even feels like it deserves to be in the Celebrity Memoir field at all, I think if that same book were written by someone who didn't have the name recognition of being Sam From iCarly it would still be a literary darling memoir ala Educated by Tara Westover? where it wouldn't have been on the bestsellers list for a year straight, likely, but still would have been very highly recommended. But I definitely DNF a celebrity memoir more often than not and usually I try to do an audiobook but it still doesn't always help lol. They're definitely fascinating as PR for a Brand, I feel like you can really tell when that's happening vs when someone has something to actually say
I didn’t realize you were from Arkansas! I am too and also didn’t realize Arkansas actually has a pretty gay history, I feel like depending on what community you grow up in people don’t want you to know because of how Christian it is, which is sad because certain parts are pretty interesting.
thank you so much! I think I might have forgotten it in the description, I'm adding it in but here it is for findagrave! www.findagrave.com/memorial/18121552/timothy_edward-gentry
I just got to when you’re talking about replacing their headstones- Ophie I am sobbing, well done. You really did it, it feels so right. I adore chronically online lesbians and the true change they can enact ❤🎉
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