Credit: Soft White Underbelly via YouTube
America’s Most Inbred Family Exposed
The man who made America‘s most inbred family famous revealed why he was almost ‘done’ with them after a series of incidents.
Filmmaker Mark Laita has shared a rare glimpse into the lives of the Whittakers, a family residing in the aptly named town of Odd, West Virginia.
The family is known for their unique behaviors, such as barking at people, communicating through grunts, and often running away when approached.
Despite having known the Whittakers for years, Laita went through a break stage with the family and planned not to speak with them again as he claimed they’d been ‘lying’ to him the ‘whole time.’
Laita first encountered the Whittakers in 2004, meeting family members Ray, Betty, Kenneth, Timmy, and Lorene.
During his first visit, the filmmaker was met by protective neighbors armed with shotguns, wary of outsiders ridiculing the family.
“They don’t like people coming to ridicule these people,” Laita reflected.
The filmmaker aimed to photograph the Whittakers for his book, ‘Created Equal,’ which explores diverse American cultures and backgrounds.
Laita was initially unwelcome but eventually gained permission to photograph the family and even gifted them some pictures.
He would revisit them in 2020 to deepen his understanding of their lives, as explored on Soft White Underbelly.
Laita recounted his experiences with the Whittakers in an interview on the Koncrete KLIPS Podcast, describing one encounter as ‘out of control.’
He recalled: “There’s these people walking around and their eyes are going in different directions and they are barking at us.
“And then one guy, you would look at him in the eye or say anything and he would just scream and go running away, and his pants would fall around his ankles, and he would go running off and go and kick a garbage can. And this would happen over and over.”
In his documentary, Inbred Family – The Whittakers, Laita spoke to Ray, who responded by grunting and pointing.
In another scene, the filmmaker asked Betty about the family’s abnormalities, but she appeared unsure. Kenneth attributed their unusual eye alignment to ‘coal mining.’
The family became the benefactors of a campaign organized by the Soft White Underbelly YouTube channel.
Years following the documentary, numerous unsettling developments regarding the Whittakers emerged.
YouTuber Tyler Oliveira uploaded a video investigating the ‘poorest region of America’ and he interviewed the Whittakers.
Laita was left seething and ready to sever ties with the family after hearing their response to a question regarding finances.
He claimed he has been treated like a money-grabbing scammer since Oliveira’s video, which was watched over a million times within its first 24 hours.
The filmmaker said: “When he asked Betty ‘What happened to the money?’ and she replied, ‘I don’t know,’ come on, Betty knows exactly where the money went.
“Look at the Whittakers; their lives have improved greatly since I came into it, and that’s because I came through for them every time.”
Laita was hurt; it was suggested that the family had barely seen any of the funds raised for them. He insisted the family regularly asked for a few thousand dollars at a time – it’s unclear what they used the funds for.
“She calls me every two, three weeks asking for more, and I always ask, ‘What are you doing with all this money? You’re living in West Virginia, how can you spend so much?’ And she just says, ‘I need it.’ But between her and Larry, a lot of money has flowed out of the GoFundMe, and it’s down to zero now,” Laita explained.
The filmmaker released a Soft White Underbelly video to address the allegations head-on. He said fundraising for the Whittakers and all his interviewees had been ‘nothing but a headache.’
Sharing screenshots of the money transfers, he added: “I’m going to discontinue my GoFundMe for the Whittakers. I probably won’t even do videos with them anymore. It’s just left such a bad taste in my mouth after all this.”
Aside from the Whittakers’ lack of acknowledgment for everything Laita has done, he was also upset at Oliveira for his approach to the content.
“That’s just social media; it’s frustrating, that’s the world we live in… They’ve received every dime,” the filmmaker commented.
Before cutting ties with the family, Laita called Betty to check she understood he hadn’t held anything back from her.
Seemingly confused, she responded: “I know you’ve been giving money but I didn’t know you been getting money for the house I don’t know more.”
But this isn’t the only scandal the Whittakers have made headlines for – Larry Whittaker was falsely reported dead, with the family relaying this misinformation to Laita.
In response, the filmmaker announced Larry’s supposed death on his YouTube channel, citing relatives who claimed he had died of a heart attack, per MailOnline.
However, a subsequent update revealed that Larry is alive and was unaware of the rumors regarding his supposed demise.
In the video, Larry appeared alongside his daughter BJ, who admitted to lying about his death to get money – she’d been given $1,000 for Larry’s ‘funeral.’
BJ confessed: “I’m not proud of what I’ve done. I shouldn’t have done it,” puffing on a cigarette, she added: “I’m trying to get help for my drug addiction.”
The situation escalated even further after Laita handed Larry $700.
Larry allegedly said he would use the cash to take BJ to North Carolina to start a new life, to which the filmmaker responded: “As long as you’re taking your daughter to North Carolina to get her away from your family then I can continue my relationship with you guys, but I don’t want to be part of you guys if everyone’s lying to me.”
But Larry allegedly kept the money and did not take her anywhere.
In a recent update, Laita chatted to Larry’s cousin, Jason Whittaker, and said: “They are all lying to me so I’m done with them.”
He explained that the family had been receiving money from the state before his help, adding: “I don’t know what to do with them other than just walk away.”
Since then, Laita has seemingly forgiven the family after taking a trip to their house once more and receiving a formal apology.
Related Article: Inside America’s Most Inbred Family And How It All Started
Related Article: Man Who Made America’s Most Inbred Family Famous Reveals One Thing That Still Haunts Him
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