07/02/2023
Gay internet stational Queerly Radio and the US based LGBT+ magazine Out say that the new film by black female film-maker Lisa Cortes called ”Little Richard: I Am Everything”, is a heartfelt tribute to the incredible entertainer, who passed on to the realm of queer and black ancestors in 2020. The review in Out quotes Cortes as saying “It's 1955. Emmett Till is killed that year. How does this queer black man go out and bring black and white teenagers together? How does he go to England and The Beatles sit at his feet, the Rolling Stones sit at his feet? He's from Macon, Georgia. He didn't have a formal education. He just had spirit and genius. And that is a story about when you don't allow yourself to be put in a box, you can really change the world.” Even though every one in his band and promotion team knew that Richard was a gay man, he struggled to reconcile his deep Southern faith with his sexuality. Cortés says they wanted to explore “his struggle with rectifying his faith with being queer,” and Out magazine notes “the documentary does that lovingly to show how he paved the way for not only rock and roll, but for the generations of queer talent that got us to where we are today”.
