Hulu’s Black Twitter docuseries sparks a social media divide

The social media phenomenon of Black Twitter is getting the star treatment in Hulu’s upcoming docuseries “Black Twitter: A People’s History.” The project, which is directed by “Insecure” showrunner and longtime sitcom writer Prentice Penny, made its SXSW debut on Friday (March 8).

Already, members of the platform’s subgroup are divided among concerns about “recipes” being unnecessarily exposed, voices being overlooked, and the inclusion of people who apparently had their Black Twitter rights revoked. According to the streamer, the three-part documentary is based on journalist Jason Parham’s 2021 WIRED article “A People’s History of Black Twitter.” It “charts the rise, the movements, the voices and the memes that made Black Twitter an influential and dominant force in nearly every aspect of American political and cultural life.”

The 30-second trailer gives a glimpse at a list of personalities who lent their perspectives to the project, including “The Read” podcast co-host Kid Fury, authors Luvvie Ajayi Jones and Roxane Gay, Jemele Hill and Van Lathan, to name a few. It was not meant to be an all-encompassing list of participants, but for some, it was just enough to cast doubt on the production.

“Black Twitter arguing over whether that Black Twitter documentary is gonna include all the right people and topics is the most Black Twitter thing ever,” read one tweet. Someone else’s reaction read, “I already see most of the names on that list are people I’ve either muted or blocked, so my expectations for this are very f**king low.” A third user quipped, “We don’t need this. We especially don’t need to hear from the names on that list. Regular, non-famous people are the ones who even make Black Twitter what it is.” And a fourth said, “I swear, I don’t know any of y’all. What side of Black Twitter is on this thing [?]”

Penny, who is also known for helping to mold the stories on “Girlfriends,” peeped the early backlash and tweeted, “I’d like to think after 20 years of holding the culture down, y’all would trust I got #BlackTwitterHulu best interest in mind. But lowkey, I also love [that] Black Twitter [is] mad hesitant and petty ‘bout it, too! [Laugh out loud]!”

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he touched on how he approached the task of shaping the production with the many voices of Black Twitter. “For the people we selected, I really wanted a wide array. I didn’t want it to feel like these were just journalists or professors talking conceptually around Black Twitter. We can have those people that can give that context, but Black Twitter is made up of everyone,” he explained.

He added that “so many of the things that happened on Black Twitter are just through regular folks. It wasn’t through pundits and the professors… For me, it was important to have the ‘professor types’ along with regular people because Black Twitter is a level playing field, which is rare for Black people in this country.”

“Black Twitter: A People’s History” starts streaming on Hulu on May 9.

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