UPDATED 4/24, 2:54 p.m. ET: Upcoming Hulu docuseries Black Twitter: A People's History has an official trailer. Watch it above.
The three-part special, scheduled to debut on Thursday, "charts the rise, movements, voices and memes that made Black Twitter an influential and dominant force in nearly every aspect of American political and cultural life," per press materials.
In the two-minute video below, hashtags like #YouKnowYoureBlackWhen and #ScandalThursday are revisited, while commentary is also given on previous social media platforms that Black Americans would frequent, like Black Planet and MySpace. But as the Black community also led conversations on social and political uprisings on Twitter, as sports journalist Jemele Hill says in the trailer, "It's way bigger than just fun and jokes."
See original story below.
Who is this for? That's the question some are asking following the announcement of Hulu's upcoming docuseries Black Twitter: A People’s History.
On Friday, Hulu released a teaser for the show, which is based on a 2021WIRED series written by former Complex editor Jason Parham. The Hulu and Onyx project chronicles the dominance of Black Twitter, which made the community influential both politically and culturally. The three-part series is being produced by notable media mogul and showrunner Prentice Penny of Insecure.
“Typically when you’re doing a doc, the subject matter of what you’re talking about is past — it’s over, it’s done,” Penny told IndieWire about the upcoming series. “Jason was so prophetic in documenting the story at this moment in time. We sit in the dark, in the digital space or internet, and so many things are here today, gone tomorrow that you’ve got to catch these moments.”
The series will feature other big names in media, including Kid Fury of The Read, comedian and television host W. Kamau Bell, actress and comedian Amanda Seales, producer and podcaster Van Lathan, journalist and political correspondent Wesley Lowery, sports journalist Jemele Hill, New York Times writer Jenna Wortham, and more.
When news about the series broke, Black Twitter (now known as X but whatever) did what Black Twitter does best and took it to task. Skepticism about the project stemmed from a number of things, including concern over the focus on media celebrities versus regular users, and apprehension over inviting outsiders to watch an inside look at the community.
While skepticism circulated, others including those involved in the docuseries defended the project, calling for social media to save their judgment until Black Twitter premieres.
"I’d like to think after 20 years of holding the culture down, y’all would trust I got #blacktwitterhulu best interest in mind," Penny wrote on X. "But lowkey, I also love black Twitter mad hesitant and petty ‘bout it, too! LOL!"
Black Twitter debuted to SXSW guests on March 8, ahead of its release on Hulu May 9.
