A whole generation will be uncomfortable eyeing their phones and DMs today after Freaknik: The Wildest Party Never Told dropped on Hulu. The documentary about Freaknik 94, arguably the most infamous year of the iconic Atlanta festival has been met with a wave of people scouring the archival footage for moms and aunts who could have feasbily attended. Furthermore, the documentary has been met with a decent critical reception, a stark contrast to several other documents over the last year. Bama Rush from HBO for example was met with massive hype. However, it quickly fell to lamentations of wasted potential.
"My momma went to a HBCU in the 90’s in Atlanta,GA where I was born. I know sis on that freaknik documentary, lemme look real close," one X user wrote. Plenty of ther posts shared similar sentiments. Many people offered their sympathies to millenials who were about to learn about their parents' wild college years. Have you seen the Freaknik documentary? Let us know what you thought in the comments.
Freaknik Documentary Airs Despite Legal Challenge
However, several people worked hard to try and ensure that the documentary didn't make it to air. Last year, a group of five prominent Black women, including a politician, three "high-level business professionals", and a judge, sued Hulu to block the release of the documentary. The plaintiffs argued that the release of the documentary would be damaging to their image. They alleged that they appeared in archival footage used in the documentary. Additionally, one of the plaintiffs claimed it would show her in an "unflattering light". Furthermore, she claimed she had already had to take steps to shield her children from other archival footage. At the time of the suit, none of the plaintiffs were publicly named.
However, per an AP article from this week, the documentary makers allege that no such lawsuit was filed. While they acknowledged that they had received complaints and threats, no formal legal filing was ever given to them. Executive director Uncle Luke had harsh words for the film's attendees-turned-detractors. “They’ll get a little taste of their own medicine. It’s easy to point fingers at people’s kids, and saying they’re living a life that in all actuality they lived as parents. I wanted to show that perspective. But then there’s this big myth about Freaknik. A lot of people from the West Coast heard about it. Some people heard the stories. It was this story that was never really told. We wanted to tell this story from where it really came from," Luke said.
Reactions To Freaknik: The Wildest Party Never Told
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