How Freaknik attendees are feeling about Hulu's documentary

A street vendor hangs T-shirts during Freaknik

April 10, 2023 2:25 PM PT

What happens at Freaknik stays at Freaknik ... until it comes to Hulu.

Forty years from its 1983 launch as a spring break picnic, the infamous Atlanta festival known as Freaknik will take the spotlight in an upcoming Hulu documentary. And some attendees (and their children) are nervous about what might make it into the film.

“I’ve been to several Freakniks, ’94 was one that I attended so I’m just praying Jesus be a fence,” TikTok user @lashwaxandglow said Saturday. “I’m praying that Jesus be a big, tall privacy fence.”

“Freaknik: The Wildest Party Never Told” will chronicle “the rise and fall of a small Atlanta HBCU picnic that exploded into an influential street party and spotlighted ATL as a major cultural stage,” Variety reported Thursday. The documentary is being directed by filmmaker P. Frank Williams and co-produced by Atlanta hip-hop legend Jermaine Dupri, who touted his involvement by reposting an excited fan’s tweet to his Instagram story Sunday.

In the ‘90s, hundreds of thousands of people — many of whom were Black college students — descended on Atlanta for the raucous party. Spring breakers were inundated with concerts, parties, dance contests and more.

But for some attendees, the Hulu documentary might make past Freaknik shenanigans catch up with the present.

“Bout to be a lot of divorces when that Freaknik doc drop,” joked “The Daily Show’s” Roy Wood Jr. “A couple pastors gone have to step down from the pulpit too.”

“If you were on those Freaknik videos, just close out all your social media [accounts] now b4 this Hulu Doc,” wrote a Twitter user.

“Some of y’all old heads better clutch on to your husbands/wives & children before this 94’ Freaknik documentary comes out on Hulu,” tweeted another.

Although the Disney-backed streaming platform hasn’t revealed a “Freaknik” premiere date yet, festivalgoers’ children are bracing for what they might see.

“@hulu got me shaking down the family group chat I don’t want no surprises,” tweeted @concreterose90, who shared a screenshot of a text message reading, “Alright...with the documentary coming out, just let us know now...who all was at the ’94 freaknik.”

While some social media users expect their loved ones’ recklessness to make the final cut, others dread potentially seeing their parents onscreen.

On Monday, a Freaknik attendee asked “what exactly is the purpose of showing what happened at #Freaknik?”

“We were young & free & we have families now with adult children who don’t need to see their mom twerking on top of cars & doing strange things with strangers!” tweeted @904dreams.

As Freaknik grew into a larger cultural hotspot, the event caused tension among festival-goers, Atlanta residents and law enforcement.

The event also earned a reputation for producing traffic jams and became a breeding ground for a variety of crimes, including rape and sexual assault.

“We cannot support events that bring lewd activities, sexual assaults, violence against women and public safety concerns,” Atlanta Committee for Black College Spring Break chairman George Hawthorne said in 1998.

By the following year, crowds decreased significantly. Freaknik made a minor comeback in 2019 and held smaller iterations in 2021 and 2022. Dupri headlined the 2021 festival along with Juvenile, Too Short, Trina, Trick Daddy, 2 Live Crew and Lil Scrappy.

Celebrities including rappers Saweetie and 21 Savage have also channeled the nostalgia of Freaknik for their respective birthday parties in recent years.