'Party Monster' Michael Alig to be released from prison
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Michael Alig, the Club Kid turned convicted murderer, will be released from prison May 5, New York reports. Alig was portrayed by Macaulay Culkin in 2003's Party Monster, which chronicled Alig's rise through the New York club scene — and then his fall after killing roommate and drug dealer Angel Melendez in 1996.
The news was broken by Alig's friend, Steve Lewis, at BlackBook. "Michael has never used a computer or cell phone but he has remained keenly aware of the world we live in," he wrote. "There is no chance that he will return to clubs as a way of life, but he will paint and write, and as always, try to impact the way we think."
Alig has been eligible for parole since 2006. There is no word on what he will do upon his release, but in 2007, Alig told New York’s Jonathan Van Meter that he has the ability to "become a Larry Tee or a RuPaul, one of the successful ones who is able to lead a creative, artistic, even edgy lifestyle." --Catherine Garcia
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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