J.T. Yorke

James Tiberius Yorke
Degrassi The Next Generation character
First appearance	Mother and Child Reunion) (episode 1.01)
Last appearance	Rock This Town (episode 6.11)
Portrayed by	Ryan Cooley
In-universe information
Species	Human
Gender	Male
Occupation	Student at Degrassi Community School * Host of children's show
Family	Ms. Cooney (Grandmother)
Spouse	(ex-girlfriend) Manny Santos (ex-girlfriend) Liberty Van Zandt (girlfriend) Mia Jones* Was girlfriend until he died
Children	A Son with Liberty Van Zandt

James Tiberius "J.T." Yorke (1989-2006) was a fictional character on the TV show Degrassi: The Next Generation who was portrayed by Ryan Cooley.

J.T. lived with his mother and grandmother. When he was young, his father abandoned him and his mother. His mother has never been seen in the series, not even when he was hospitalized. He was stabbed by Drake Lempke, a student at Lakehurst, in the episode Rock This Town. At the hospital, a nurse told Toby that J.T. had died.

Season 1

Childish Ways

He was first seen in Mother and Child Reunion Part 1. He introduced his friend Toby from summer camp to his life-long friends Emma Nelson and Manny Santos. In this season he's portrayed as the class clown. His immaturity led him to getting Ashley Kerwin in extreme trouble when he brought an ecstasy tablet to her house party. This season was also the beginning of a crush that Liberty had on him, the girl he was least attracted to at the time. He even pretended to be homosexual just to get her to stop crushing on him.

Season 2

Crush On Paige

At the beginning of season two, JT develops a huge crush on Paige Michalchuk and he vows to make her his girlfriend. JT constantly tries to woo Paige, but she constantly insults him and shoots down his advances. However, when Spinner and Hazel offer Paige money to go on a date with JT, Paige accepts the offer. However, Paige has a surprisingly great time with JT on the date. A few seconds later, Spinner and Hazel appears on the scene and gives to Paige the money she earned. JT is angry that Paige only went out with him for money, so Paige walks out on their date. The next day, Paige apologizes to JT, tells him that he'd be her type if he was older, and then kisses him on the cheek, leaving him satisfied.

Feud With Liberty

When JT insults her, Liberty Van Zandt uses a red permanent marker to scribble on his locker and several others next to his. That in turn gets him into trouble with Mr. Raditch, the former principal. Later when J.T. was about to start cleaning the lockers with a bucket of soapy water and a toothbrush Liberty admitts that she marked on the lockers so that J.T. didn't have to go to private school. At the end of the school day, J.T. calls Liberty cool. Liberty maintains her crush on him.

More Immature Acts

He proved that he was still the class clown by getting Toby into trouble with Spinner when he bought condoms for Toby to be prepared with Kendra, Toby's girlfriend and Spinner's adopted sister.

Crush on Ms. Hatzilakos

JT, among other male students, has a big crush on science teacher, Ms. Hatzilakos. One day, he misbehaves in class, and Ms. Hatzilakos gives him detention. She makes him care for a few guinea pigs, including a pregnant one. However, they develops a student-teacher bond and Ms. Hatzilakos advises JT to stop wasting his intelligence by always being the class clown.

Going to the Dance with Liberty

At the end of the school year, JT has every intention on asking Paige to be his date to the year-end dance. However, when he asks Liberty for help on passing the final exams, she only agrees to do so if he takes her to the year-end dance as his date. JT relunctantly agrees and he never gets the chance to ask Paige.

Season 3

Crush On Manny

As soon as Manny's style of clothing changed from plain and innocent to hot and sexy, JT starts to look at her in a way he never has before. He and Manny flirt with each other, but he gets his heart broken when she chooses Sully, a popular, upperclassman, over him. After breaking up with Sully, Manny begins a long, wrongful romance with Craig Manning. She and JT don't begin dating until the end of season 3.

Rise In Popularity

Paige, Hazel, Spinner, and Jimmy, four of Degrassi's most popular students, take an interest in JT and befriend him, especially Paige, who gained a ton of respect for JT after he confronted Dean for raping her the previous year. JT and Spinner had a brief, minor feud that was quickly resolved. Toby, however, was still considered an unpopular nerd and JT seemed to be ditching him. To pay JT back, Toby reveals an embarrassing secret to JT's new friends...he had a wet dream about Liberty. They quickly make up and remain best friends in the end. Also that year JT did a commercial but it was childish, causing him to receive the wrong kind of attention.

Dating Manny

Towards the end of season 3, JT wants to ask Manny to the semi-formal. With encouragement from Liberty, who had dismissed her three-year crush on him once she found a love of her own, JT decides to ask Manny out. However, when he sees her talking to Craig, he jumps to the conclusion that she's trying to reconcile with him. Manny gets angry with JT for making such an assumption, but she forgives him the following day and accepts his invitation to the semi-formal as his date.

Season 4

Relationship with Manny

J.T. is now going out with Manny, but there appears to be a lack of chemistry. Manny is turned off by his immature ways such as farting and acting like a clown. Liberty hosts a little get-together in her backyard, chatting, sipping lemonade, and relaxing in the hot tub. As a joke, Danny, Liberty's brother, pulls J.T.'s trunks down, revealing his private parts. J.T. is embarrassed and Manny is surprised. After seeing Craig's penis in the locker room, J.T feels inadequate. Danny and Toby help him get a penis pump and J.T decides to use it when he and Manny plan to have sex that night. Manny catches him using it, and she dumps J.T. the following day for being so immature.

The Shooting

Since Toby was friends with Rick, J.T. starts being mean to Toby for being his friend and hangs out with Danny. When Toby tells Manny about J.T., she tells him that she remembers why they broke up because he couldn't be the bigger man. J.T. then later apologizes to Toby at Rick's funeral.

J.T. and Liberty Together At Last

When J.T. and Liberty work on a school play inspired by the school shooting episodes earlier, he realizes how blind he was for all of those years and he finally returns her love when they shared a kiss in detention. They continue going out throughout Season 5.

Season 5

J.T. is thrown into the "Adult World"

After dating Liberty for several months, Liberty learned that she is pregnant and J.T. was the father. J.T. soon broke up with Liberty, because she was too controlling on a job that he needed to take. J.T. decided not to abandon Liberty, because his own father abandoned him. J.T. and Liberty both tell J.T.'s grandmother, who did not take the news well and questions if he will be like his father, they also told Liberty's parents and they said she should stay with them and forget J.T., or they find their own place. Liberty wanted to stay with J.T. He got multiple jobs, including being a clerk at a drug store and being "PJ J.T." and Counter Boy, a host of a kid's television show which he soon quits because there is no payment. Even with all the jobs, J.T. couldn't afford an apartment that he and Liberty were trying to buy, so with the advice from Jay Hogart, J.T. decided to sell oxycodone to a drug dealer. When Liberty found out, she hit J.T. and told him to return the drugs and confess. While trying to get the drugs back, J.T. was attacked by the drug dealer he had been supplying the pills to. When J.T. went to give the dealer the pills, he took a handful of the oxycodone pills for himself and overdosed. While in the hospital, Liberty questioned his reasons for attempting suicide and decided to put the baby up for adoption. From then on, Liberty avoided J.T., and he was only able to see his child for a brief time after he was born.

Season 6

Dating Mia Jones

In his senior year of high school at Degrassi, J.T. decided to date 17-year old single mother, Mia Jones. After finding out about her child, he then took back his old TV job to get her attention and to spite Liberty who wouldn't pay attention to him. It worked, and the two began to date. Doing this caused his ex-girlfriend Liberty to become jealous and angry with him.

Liberty's Jealousy

In the episode Eyes Without a Face, Pt. 1 Liberty started to show a vibe of jealousy when she saw her ex, J.T. asking Mia out for ice cream with Mia's daughter, Isabella. Her jealousy over Mia and J.T. escalated when Liberty told Mia all of J.T.'s dark secrets, jeopardizing their relationship. During a Student Council meeting, she turned down J.T.'s idea of having a daycare at Degrassi without even hearing J.T.'s pitch, saying that it would only benefit his girlfriend. Mia stood up and said she wasn't alone. J.T. finally lashed out at her telling that she was being selfish, reminding her that he supported her throughout her entire pregnancy even when she gave up the baby that was also his, and accused her of wanting J.T. to be as miserable as she is.

J.T.'s Murder

J.T. ended up in a serious rivalry with Lakehurst after his brief, yet violent confrontation with a Lakehurst student, Nic. As the tension mounted, J.T. agreed to a street fight with them and convinced Derek and others to join in the fight. Toby refused to participate, and begged J.T. not to do it. Mia arrived before the Lakehurst gang and convinced J.T. and friends to leave. When J.T. didn't show up, however, Nic and his thugs found Toby and beat him up, which left him wearing a cast on his arm and a neck brace. J.T. is shocked and ashamed about what happened. He angrily states that he wants payback for what they did to Toby, but Toby pleads with him not to pursue the rivalry any further. J.T. reluctantly lets it go.

In the episode Rock This Town, Emma and Manny hold a birthday party for Liberty at Emma's house on the suggestion of J.T. During the party Liberty confesses to J.T. that she still loves him. J.T. was caught off guard and didn't know what to say. Liberty took this as rejection and was heartbroken. As Liberty tries to exited the party she is being delayed by J.T. who doesn't seem to want to end the conversation. She asks him if he loves Mia. After a hesitation he says he does. But when Liberty asked him "Then why are you standing here talking to me?" J.T. claims he doesn't know. Liberty replies with "I think you do know, but you're too much of a coward to admit it." A confused J.T. later talks with Toby about his cravings for both a meatball sub (Mia) and a bowl of oatmeal (Liberty). Toby says that Mia is a good person but Liberty has always been there for him. After talking with Toby J.T. realizes that he can't fight how he feels, J.T. leaves the party. That was the last time Toby would see J.T. alive.

J.T. is looking for Liberty to tell her that he still loves her too when he finds two Lakehurts thugs. One of the two, Johnny DiMarco, was peeing on his car. All J.T. had to say was "Couldn't find a toilet?". DiMarco's friend, Drake Lempke, replies with "He already did." "Haha you guys slay me with your humor," says a tired J.T. as he takes out his keys. Thinking the thug and his friend were leaving, J.T. attempts to get in his car as Drake stabs J.T. in the back after saying, "Oh yeah mascot boy? Well laugh at this!". Seconds later, Liberty sees the two boys running off and finds J.T on the ground in blood. She runs over to him realizing the serious damage that was done and she screams for help as she holds him. At the hospital everyone is waiting (Liberty, Emma, Sean, Manny, and Toby) to hear the latest news of friend J.T's condition. Then a doctor comes out only to tell them what they feared was reality. His aorta (a main artery) was punctured and there was too much damage to repair. Shocked and devastated, Liberty, Emma, Sean, Manny, and Toby mourn the loss of the one and only James Tiberius Yorke. Manny was the one who broke down the most when they all received the news. Interestingly enough, Liberty, Emma, Sean, Manny, Toby and JT himself were the original seventh graders in Degrassi.

Season 7

Degrassi vs. Lakehurst

J.T.'s death played a very important role in this season. Because everyone was very troubled due to his death, many fights, breakouts, and emotions were thrown around showing there true love for J.T. This significant event also led to a fight between liberty and one of the lakehurst students, a public podcast by toby exclaiming his hate for lakehurst, and the obvious drama that is still brewing between the two rival schools. Degrassi will never be the same.

Relationships

• Manny Santos
  • Start Up: "Our House" (321)
  • Broke Up: "Mercy Street" (404)
    • Reason: Manny believes J.T. is too immature.

• Liberty van Zandt
  • First Relationship
    • Start Up: "Voices Carry, Part 2" (412)
    • Broke Up: "Eye of the Tiger" (416)
      • Reason: J.T. and Danny get into a fight and Liberty witnesses J.T. pushing Danny to the ground.
  • Second Relationship
    • Start Up: "Eye of the Tiger" (416)
    • Broke Up: "Foolin'" (504)
      • Reason: J.T. believes Liberty is too controlling.
  • Third Relationship
    • Start Up: "Turned Out, Part 1" (507)
    • Broke Up: "Turned Out, Part 2" (508)
      • Reason: J.T. sells drugs in order to support the baby, then attempts suicide by overdosing.

• Mia Jones
  • Start Up: "Eyes Without a Face, Part 1" (605)
  • Ends: "Rock This Town" (611)
    • Reason: J.T.'s death.