November 14, 2022
Hometown of Chattanooga Set to Honor Leslie Jordan
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 2 MIN.
Leslie Jordan is gone, but not forgotten. The late gay comedian's hometown of Chattanooga is set to honor his life later this month with an event that will benefit a local AIDS support organization, according to UK newspaper the Daily Mail.
"Leslie's longtime friend and collaborator Del Shores will host 'Love. Light. Leslie.: Sunday Hymn Singin' Celebrating Leslie Jordan' on Nov. 20 at the Memorial Auditorium, according to Chattanooga Times Free Press," the Mail detailed.
"The ticketed event will benefit Cempa Community Care, which provides social service advocacy, care, and assistance for those affected by HIV."
"Jordan was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on April 29, 1955, and a representative for the city has revealed it will remember the legendary star as 'one of the cherished sons of Chattanooga,'" the Mail relayed.
The Free Press said that the night "promises to be an evening of laughs, tears, sing-alongs, special guest appearances, surprises and memories," with tickets for sale at a suggested price of $20.
As previously reported, the beloved funnyman died after being in a car accident in Los Angeles last month.
The Mail noted that while no cause of death has yet been established, it's suspected that Jordan might have suffered a heart attack while driving to the set of "Call Me Kat," the hit comedy he was starring in at the time of his death.
Jordan was active in Hollywood for years, starring as Brother Boy in Del Shores' play "Sordid Lives" and its film adaptation before breaking out with a "recurring role on 'Will & Grace,' which won him a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series" in 2006, Vanity Fair recalled.
"He also wrote two books and two plays, the first of which, 'Hysterical Blindness and Other Southern Tragedies That Have Plagued My Life Thus Far,' was a well-received one-act gospel musical about his own life."
Jordan's fame received a boost in the past couple years when he "became an oasis of soothing humor during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic with his Instagram videos," Vanity Fair said.
Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.
