I saw him last weekend in Atlanta. The audience was rather large. No one in my group was "read" so I can't validate his talent.
My comments are not for debate; I'm only sharing what I thought about the experience.
My husband however, the biggest skeptic in the world - a mathmatician and a man who demands proof , walked away admitting that he just doesn't know. He thinks John Edward may be for real. And this is a man who would look at every possible angle.
He's not fishing for info (if you watch enough you realize that he is way too specific for that).
The only way he could be scamming the audience would be if he planted people in the audience to be read. Possible? of course. The only problem with this theory - in 18 years of "doing readings" somebody somewhere would have "talked" by now and been on Entertainment Tonight with "John Edward is a Fake" and his scam would have been revealed.
I agree, if he is a scam artist - he is a very cruel man.
However, I tend to believe that he is legit.
And for the person who asked "where does he get his power?" - he says everyone has the ability to communicate with those who have passed on - it just takes prayer, meditation and practice. I think some people are more "wired" for that sort of thing than others.
A few other observations for those who are interested about his seminar:
He could have sold "John Edward merchandice" at the show and made a pile of money - he did not. Not a single tshirt, book, tape, nothing.
He could have signed up the entire room for private readings at $300.00 a pop - he did not.
He spent about 15 minutes telling people that they should be skeptical - insist on validation from any medium or psychic they ever visit. He instructed on how NOT to give away information to the "psychic" - and to insist on more than general comments.
The chances of being "read" at his seminar are slim because there are so many people in the audience. I think he gave about 25 readings (actually more than I thought he would)
And finally, his show was very entertaining. Funny, amazing, interesting.
As my husband said, "If he is not for real, he is VERY good at performing".