Lin-Manuel Miranda's Freestyle Love Supreme doc delayed amid George Floyd protests

Joey Nolfi
·2 min read

We Are Freestyle Love Supreme is improvising its release strategy.

The upcoming Hulu documentary — chronicling the 2019 reunion performances of Lin-Manuel Miranda's pre-Hamilton hip-hop group — has postponed its originally planned Friday release date in the wake of nationwide police brutality protests.

"We will be postponing the release of the We Are Freestyle Love Supreme documentary and look forward to sharing it with you in the future," the group said in a statement on Twitter, further prompting fans to take action and support the Black Lives Matter movement.

The collective's statement continued, adding that Freestyle Love Supreme is "for the freedom of expression, creativity, inclusion, equality," and "love," and that their work has "always centered around creating a safe space for those ideals to flourish." They feel that, in the wake of "systematic racial injustice, intolerance, police brutality, and hate," such a space is not currently possible for black artists who shaped the contemporary music scene.

"We believe that through activism, understanding, and love, this country will realize that now is the time for lasting, real change and equity," the statement concludes. "We are for love. We are for justice. We are with you. Black lives matter."

"A lot of the people in Freestyle Love Supreme are shaping what the American theater looks like now," Anthony Veneziale, the emcee and co-founder of the troupe, said in the recently released trailer for the Sundance-debuting nonfiction film. Troupe member Miranda took inspiration from the group's style before becoming a global breakout at the center of stage productions In the Heights and Hamilton, which also featured his Freestyle Love Supreme co-member, Christopher Jackson. "Heights doesn't happen if it isn't for this," Jackson added in the trailer.

Utkarsh Ambudkar (who appears in Disney's live-action Mulan movie), Arthur Lewis, Chris Sullivan, Bill Sherman, James Monroe Iglehart, Andrew Bancroft, and Thomas Kail also appear in the film, which was directed by Andrew Fried (Chef's Table).

Read Freestyle Love Supreme's full statement on the documentary's delayed release above.

To help combat systemic racism, please consider donating to these organizations:

  • Campaign Zero, which is dedicated to ending police brutality in America through research-based strategies.

  • Color of Change, which works to move decision makers in corporations and government to be more responsive to racial disparities.

  • Equal Justice Initiative, which provides legal services to people who have been wrongly convicted, denied a fair trial, or abused in state jails and prisons.

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