I Witnessed Joaquin Phoenix Rap And Interviewed Him, So This Is What I’m Saying

And so, now Joaquin Phoenix's people say again his new rap career is not a hoax, thereby rebutting the earlier Entertainment Weekly report that two people close to him say that he admits it's a "put-on." I hope you can follow that circular logic. Says his rep, according to MTV via ABC:

"The transition from one career to another is never seamless. It should come as no surprise to anyone that Joaquin came from a musical family, in addition to winning a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Johnny Cash," Patricola wrote in an e-mail. "He intends on exploring his musical interests despite speculative, negative or positive reactions."

In other stupid news regarding Phoenix, MTV's online news organ posted a link to a MySpace page, saying its creator purports to be Phoenix while seeming not to be really his page. Well, duh, listen to the music on that MySpace. The tunes, claiming to based out of Las Vegas, pump pretty cool loops. But it's blatantly not his voice, unless it's radically different than the voice I heard him rap with at Lavo here, and unless the songs themselves are all different than the songs I heard at Lavo:
http://newsroom.mtv.com/2009/01/23/are-those-really-joaquin-phoenixs-rap-songs-on-myspace/

So around and around we go ... where we stop: Casey Affleck's documentary, which, by the time this whole thing is over, could end up being a documentary about itself, like a real life imitation of "The Orchid Thief."

I will say here again what I said in my original column. Phoenix told me personally it's not for "funsies" (a word I used). Affleck assured me Phoenix is for real. And Phoenix's producer said Phoenix's rap career is for real; as I reported:

I asked the producer for the documentary, Angela White, if this documentary/career change is a hoax.
"Not at all. It's real," she said. "That's why he has Casey doing it. It's an intimate portrait. Joaquin usually doesn't give that to people."

That was all in this column:
http://www.lvrj.com/news/37812874.html

Therefore and to wit, either Phoenix, Affleck and White are liars. Or the story in EW was not truth, which is not to say it was inaccurate. That is, it's possible some people close to Phoenix told EW he admitted it's a put-on. But it's also possible those people close to EW lied or misquoted him.

Whatever. That's the update.