Get ready for a wild ride. The Freaknik documentary reactions are pouring in, and they’re nothing short of epic!
On Thursday (March 21), Hulu dropped the highly-anticipated (and dreaded) Freaknik: The Wildest Party Never Told backed by Jermaine Dupri, Luther “Uncle Luke” Campbell, and 21 Savage.
Confirmed last year, the account of Atlanta’s iconic HBCU picnic turned spring break street party — that drew hundreds of thousands of attendee in the ’80s and ’90s — had folks on social media in their feelings — wondering whether they’d spot their parents, uncles, or aunts in the crowd.
Now, days following the small screen project’s release, social media has exploded with hilarious reactions, leaving us with more questions than answers!
“Someone I went to college with from my hometown spotted her dad in the Freaknik trailer [crying face, laughing emoji],” wrote one user on x/Twitter.
“I asked my mom if she in the freaknik documentary she gone say “what year they pulled it from?” um EXCUSE ME?!?,” another comment reads.
Another viewer extended thoughts and prayers to an entire generation as they slowly connected the dots. “Thoughts and prayers to the 30-year-olds who are gonna turn on the Freaknik doc and realize why their parents have bad knees,” the comment reads.
Another recalled, “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.”
Others questioned British rapper 21 Savage’s involvement altogether, with one writing, “Having 21 savage on that Freaknik doc when he was prolly a baby in London at the time don’t sit well with me lol.”
During an appearance on “Tamron Hall Show,” Dupri tried to downplay the frenzy surrounding the movie.
“My vision of Freaknik is really a story about the South in Atlanta. It’s not really about what everybody keeps talking about,” he clarified. “I think I don’t like that part because I feel like it’s a little disrespectful because I’m just telling a story. I’m telling a story of Atlanta, right, and how Atlanta was built into the place it is today… I can’t say that you won’t see freaking in this video. It is called Freaknik; it is.”
In 1988 citing “sexual assaults [and] violence against women,” the Atlanta Committee suggested that the Black College Spring Break should cease hosting Freaknik.
Committee chairman George Hawthorne previously said, “we cannot support events that bring lewd activities, sexual assaults, violence against women and public safety concerns – firetrucks not being able to reach victims, and ambulances not being able to reach hospitals in a timely manner.”
In 1999, mounting traffic congestion, rising security concerns, and escalating tensions between revelers and city officials brought the Freaknik festival to an inevitable halt.