Lisa Cortes Archives – CULTURE MIX

Review: ‘Murder Has Two Faces,’ starring Robin Roberts, Mayra Escobar, Reina Solis, Roger Chiang, Bobby Chacon, Tiffany Taylor and Leroy West

May 6, 2025

by Carla Hay

Laci Peterson and Evelyn Hernandez in “Murder Has Two Faces” (Photo courtesy of ABC News Studios/Hulu)

Directed by Lisa Cortés

Culture Representation: The three-episode documentary series “Murder Has Two Faces” features a racially diverse group of people (Latin, African American, white and Asian) who are connected in some way to U.S. murder cases that have been in the news.

Culture Clash: The series compares and contrasts media coverage and law enforcement’s handling of similar murder cases where the victims were white and the victims were not white.

Culture Audience: “Murder Has Two Faces” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in watching true crime documentaries about how race plays a role in how people perceive crime victims.

Mayra Escobar and Robin Roberts in “Murder Has Two Faces” (Photo courtesy of ABC News Studios/Hulu)

“Murder Has Two Faces” is an admirable and candid true crime series that compares how similar murder cases are given different priorities by the media and law enforcement when the victims are white or not white. Robin Roberts hosts and does interviews with professional compassion. It’s not the first true crime documentary series to show how white supremacist racism can affect what happens to these murder cases. However, it’s the first that does a notable compare-and-contrast racial examination for well-known murder cases that have striking similarities.

Directed by Lisa Cortés (who is an executive producer of the series), “Murder Has Two Faces” has three episodes that all focus on the murders of women who were under the age of 35. The first episode, title Motherhood Interrupted,” compares and contrasts the cases of two murdered women who were eight months pregnant and were found dismembered separately in the San Francisco area in 2002: Laci Peterson (who was white) and Evelyn Hernandez (who was Latina). The second episode, titled “The Capitol Killings,” compares and contrasts the unrelated cases of two murdered women who worked for U.S. Congressmen in Washington, D.C.: Joyce Chiang (who was Asian) in 1999, and Chandra Levy (who was white) in 2001. The third episode, titled “Good Guys Gone Bad,” compares and contrasts the murder cases of killers who targeted sex workers who were the same race as the killers: Philip Markoff (also known as the Craigslist Killer) was white and was the prime suspect in a 2009 crime spree in Boston, while Khalil Wheeler-Weaver (also known as the Tagged Killer) is black and has been convicted of a 2016 series of murders that happened in New Jersey.

A few people who give commentary in all three episodes: Amara Cofer, creator of Black Girl Gone: A True Crime Podcast, talks about the racial disparities in coverage of cases involving white people versus coverage of cases involving people of color. Bobby Chacon is a retired FBI profiler who was involved in diving searches in the cases of Laci Peterson, Evelyn Hernandez and Joyce Chiang.

The cases in “Motherhood Interrupted” are so similar, for a period of time before one of these murders ended up being solved, investigators and the media mistakenly speculated that the same person could have committed both murders. The dismembered bodies of Peterson and Hernandez were both found on the shores of the San Francisco Bay. Both women were eight months pregnant with sons. Peterson and Hernandez were reported missing just seven months apart from each other.

Laci Peterson’s murder received worldwide media attention and is still the topic of many news reports and documentaries. She was reported missing in December 2002. The bodies of 27-year-old Laci and her unborn son Conner (who was her first child) were found in April 2003. It’s common knowledge that in 2004, her husband Scott Peterson was convicted of murdering Laci and Conner. In 2020, his death penalty sentence was overturned, and he was re-sentenced to life in prison without parole. Scott Peterson still maintains that he’s not guilty of these murders.

Hernandez, whose murder remains unsolved, was reported missing in May 2002, and her body was found in July 2002. She was a 24-year-old single mother who was pregnant with a son named Fernando. The father of Fernando is a married older man named Herman Aguilera, who worked as a limousine driver at the time of her disappearance. Just like Scott Peterson, the father of Fernando was an unfaithful husband who reportedly did not want this pregnancy. It’s mentioned in the documentary that murder is the number-one cause of death for pregnant women.

Aguilera, who was married at the time he and Hernandez had their affair, was last questioned by the San Francisco Police Department in August 2002, and he was never named as a suspect. Aguilera claims that he talked to Hernandez on the phone on the day that she disappeared, but he says he didn’t see her that day. Aguilera doesn’t have a solid alibi for the entire time that Hernandez could have disappeared that day. However, there has been no evidence that he saw her that day.

The documentary mentions that Aguilera could not be reached for comment. Unlike Scott Peterson, Aguilera has never publicly commented or given any interviews. The documentary does not disclose the name of his wife, but it’s mentioned that Aguilera and his wife stayed together after Hernandez’s disapperance and murder were in the news.

Hernandez also had a 5-year-old son named Alex from another relationship. Alex also went missing on the same day that Hernandez went missing. Although her body was found, the bodies of Alex and Fernando were not found. Fernando is presumed to be dead, but Alex is still officially a missing person.

The documentary also points out that socioeconomic class has a lot to do with prejudices in how murder cases are covered. Hernandez was a working-class immigrant who was originally from El Salvador. Laci Peterson was a middle-class homemaker who was born in the United States. Both had different experiences of the American Dream, but Laci was considered the more “important” story by the news media.

Although “Murder Has Two Faces” compares and contrasts what happened in the cases where the murder victims were white and were not white, it doesn’t spend too much time rehashing the enormous amount of media coverage that the white victims got. Instead, the docuseries makes sure that the women of color who were the murder victims get a thoughtful spotlight so that loved ones can talk about what these women were like when they were alive.

For “Motherhood, Interrupted,” the interviewees who knew Fernandez personally are Mayra Escobar, a Guatemalan immigrant, who was a friend of Hernandez since they were in high school together; Reina Solis, Hernandez’s sister who happens to be deaf; Twiggy Damy, a friend of Evelyn’s; and Berta Hernandez (no relation to Evelyn Hernandez), who was Evelyn’s drama teacher at a youth center called Casa de Los Jóevnes. They all describe Evelyn as someone who had an outgoing and strong personality.

Escobar says, “Evelyn had a light around her. Evelyn was such a charismatic person. She wanted to feel that she was important.” However, Escobar doesn’t sugarcoat the difficulties that Evelyn had in her life. According to Escobar, Evelyn left home at age 16 because Evelyn was not getting along with her strict mother. Evelyn also struggled financially.

Evelyn was also feeling despondent over her disintegrating relationship with Aguilera and his lack of enthusiasm for the arrival of their unborn child. For example, he wanted nothing to do with Evelyn’s baby shower that was supposed to take place a few days after she disappeared. (The baby shower was cancelled because of her disappearance.) Escobar says that during the last few months of Evelyn’s life, Evelyn distanced herself from her family and friends. Damy says that it wasn’t until after Evelyn disappeared that her friends and family found out that Aguilera was married.

Lyanne Melendez, a reporter for KABC-TV in San Francisco, says she was “outraged” about the disparity between the media coverage that Laci Peterson got compared to Evelyn Fernandez. However, she makes this admission when commenting on the media that covered the Evelyn Fernandez case: “We were not pushing police like we did with Laci Peterson.” Melendez later says of how Latin people are treated as crime victims compared to how white victims of similar crimes are treated: “As a Latina, it made me sad. It made me feel like we were not good enough.” She also notes of KABC-TV’s coverage of the Evelyn Hernandez murder: “We could’ve done better and not let go of the story.”

Dan Dedet, a detective who handles cold cases (investigations that have reached dead ends) at the San Francisco Police Department, comments in the documentary about the case of Evelyn Hernandez and her missing sons: “We could use the help from the public. We have a [phone] tip line where people can remain anonymous. I will never forget Evelyn and Alex. I would really like to close this case before I’m gone.”

The documentary mentions that there was also a language barrier that could have hindered the investigation because police investigators who know sign language are uncommon, and they weren’t readily available to communicate with Evelyn’s sister Solis, who is non-verbal. In the documentary, someone does voiceover interpretation for what Solis’ sign language. There are also sometimes culture barriers when most of the investigating officials in the U.S. are white and only know how to speak English, and they have to interact with communities where the majority are people of color whose first language is not English.

Solis says she is always praying for Evelyn, Alex and Fernando: “They’re in heaven, and they’re being taken care of now.” Escobar adds, “We want justice for Evelyn and the boys.” Other people interviewed in this episode are Holly Pera, a retired homicide detective for the San Francisco Police Department; and Kelly St. John, a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle; Danielle Slakogg, professor of criminology at Cal State University.

“The Capitol Killings” episode features impactful and heart-wrenching interviews with Roger Chiang, Joyce Chiang’s younger brother, who was a tireless advocate in pushing the police and the media to not let Joyce’s case become forgotten. Joyce, who was 27 years old when she died, disappeared from Washington, D.C.’s Dupont Circle in January 1999. Her decomposed body was found in the Potomac River in April 1999.

Roger describes the childhood that he and Joyce had as two of four siblings born in the United States to parents who immigrated from Taiwan. He says that they experienced angry racist bullying from people when they lived in Chicago as children. Roger remembers that this was his parents’ response to the racism: “They pushed us to do better.”

Joyce was a protective sister, says Roger, who adds: “She was one of the most loving, caring human beings in the world.” Amy C. Well, who was Joyce’s classmate and friend at Smith College, describes Joyce as the life of the party. Judy Kim, who was Joyce’s best friend in college, also describes Joyce as caring and very charming.

After graduating from Smith College, Joyce took night classes at Georgetown University Law School while she had a day job as an immigration advisor to U.S. Congressman Howard Berman. After she graduated from law school and passed the bar, she became an attorney at the U.S. immigration and Naturalization Service, which was the job she had at the time she disappeared.

Chandra Levy was a 24-year-old intern who worked with then-U.S. Congressman Gary Condit at the time she disappeared in May 2001. Her decomposed remains were found in Rock Creek Park in May 2002. In the time period between her disappearance and when her remains were found, there was a media frenzy that included the scandal that Condit was having an affair with Levy.

Condit, who always denied accusations that he was responsible for Levy’s disappearance, was considered the main person of interest until Ingmar Guandique, an undocumented immigrant from El Salvador, was caught and convicted of murdering Levy. A jailhouse informant gave a crucial tip that Guandique confessed to the crime, and DNA evidence proved that Guandique was the killer. His 2010 murder conviction was overturned in 2016, due to prosecutorial misconduct. Instead of getting a new trial, he was deported to El Salvador in 2016.

The widespread media exposure for the Levy case helped revive interest in the Joyce Chiang case. But some people believe that it’s a shame that the media will more likely pay attention to a case of a murdered person of color if it can be linked to a case of a white person who’s been missing or has been murdered. Naomi Ishisaka, assistant managing editor for the Seattle Times, comments on this racial inequality: “Our culture has ideas of what is a universal victim. And that is dictated by race and class and age … When it comes to Asian Americans, I think we’re largely invisible.”

Joyce Chiang’s family and other loved ones did not get the same closure for her case that there was for Levy’s case. There was the additional nightmare of Joyce’s case being erroneously described as a probable suicide by Terrance “Terry” Gainer, who was assistant chief of the Metropolitan Police of the District of Columbia from 1998 to 2002, and chief of the United States Capitol Police from 2002 to 2006. Gainer made those suicide theory remarks to the media after Joyce’s body was found. Roger Chiang believes there was some racial bias from Gainer (who is white) because Gainer pushed a theory that Joyce, who was under an internal investigation in her job, could have killed herself as part of Asian culture that teaches that suicide is an option for people who want to punish themselves for disgracing their families.

It wasn’t until 2011, when two murder suspects were identified as causing Joyce’s death, that the Metropolitan Police finally admitted their mistake and described Joyce’s death as a homicide that has been solved. The police believe that the two suspects—Steven Allen and Neil Joaquin—were drug users who robbed, kidnapped, and murdered Joyce because they saw her walking alone on a street and thought she would be an easy target. Allen and Joaquin became suspects because they committed similar robbery/kidnapping crimes, according to the Metropolitan Police.

The police theory is that the suspects dumped Joyce Chiang’s body in the Anacostia River (where some of her belongings were found), which leads to the Potomac River, where her body was found. Unfortunately, no one has been arrested or charged with her murder because not enough evidence was found to definitively link any suspects to the crime. Allen is currently serving a life sentence for an unrelated crime. Joaquin was last reported to be in his native Guyana and cannot be extradited for this case.

During this episode, some of Joyce’s answering machine messages are played for people being interviewed, and it moves some people to tears when they hear the messages. Roberts gets tearful when talking to Roger, who is emotional during many moments. However, he also expresses gratitude that Joyce’s death is now rightfully classified as a homicide, not suicide. He and many people felt that the suicide theory was unnecessary damage to her reputation when she couldn’t defend herself.

Other people interviewed in this episode are Laura Ashburn, reporter for WJLA-TV Washington, D.C., from 1996 to 2000; Chuck Regini, a retired FBI agent; Joe Gentile, a retired public information officer for the Metropolitan Police; journalist Eddie Dean; and James Young, a a retired police detective for the Metropolitan Police.

The “Good Guys Gone Bad” episode is about serial killers who had deceptive appearances of being harmless and upstanding young men. Markoff, the so-called Craigslist Killer, was a medical student in Boston with no previous arrest record. He found his victims through ads that they placed on the website Craigslist. He was accused of robbing three sex workers and murdering one of them (Julissa Brisman), all during April 2009. Markoff was arrested and pleaded not guilty. In August 2010, when Markoff was 24, he committed suicide by asphyxiation in a Boston jail where he had been awaiting a trial whose start date had not been set at the time of his death.

Wheeler-Weaver, nicknamed the Tagged Killer, also used the Internet to find his victims. He contacted them through the Tagged social network. Just like Markoff, Wheeler-Weaver (who worked as a security guard) was in his early 20s and did not have a criminal record when he was arrested for murder. Because of DNA evidence and phone records, Wheeler-Weaver (who was born in 1996) was convicted of three murders that happened from September to November 2016. He received a sentence of 160 years in prison and won’t be eligible for parole until 140 years into his sentence, which means that he will die in prison.

The three murder victims—19-year-old Robin West, 20-year-old Sarah Butler and 33-year-old Joanne Brown—were strangled or asphyxiated, and their bodies were found in Orange, New Jersey, which was Wheeler-Weaver’s hometown. In 2022, Wheeler-Weaver was charged with the murder of 15-year-old Mawa Doumbia, who died of strangulation. He has maintained that he is not guilty of these four murders. At the time this documentary was released, a trial date had not been set for the Doumbia murder case.

This episode has perhaps the most blatant example of racial and socioeconomic prejudice when comparing how the authorities handled the Craigslist Killer case and the Tagged Killer case. In both cases, there were survivors who escaped attempted murder. But in the Craigslist Killer case, the survivors were immediately believed and the media issued widespread warnings about the Craigslist Killer’s methods and the types of women he was targeting. Markoff was arrested within two weeks of his killing spree.

By contrast, Tagged Killer survivor Tiffany Taylor (who escaped by convincing Wheeler-Weaver to go back to her motel room to retrieve her phone that had damning evidence) wasn’t taken seriously by police when she reported that Wheeler-Weaver raped her and tried to murder her by strangulation. Taylor said she knew Wheeler-Weaver’s name, address and other important identifying information. But when police questioned him, they believed his denials and didn’t investigate further. Taylor was dismissed as a disgruntled sex worker who wanted to get revenge on a customer.

Taylor is interviewed in the documentary and says she still struggles with knowing that Wheeler-Weaver killed Butler after he tried to murder Taylor. She and many other people believe that Butler’s murder could have been prevented if police had taken Taylor’s evidence seriously and had arrested Wheeler-Weaver. Instead of sensationalizing the gruesome aspects of the attempted murder, this documentary takes the time to let Taylor tell the circumstances that led her to become a sex worker.

Taylor says she and her single mother fell on hard times after her mother was diagnosed with cancer, and they became homeless. Taylor says she was “running the streets to survive.” She was five months pregnant when Wheeler-Weaver tried to murder her. Taylor says one of her biggest motivations to survive was to not only save herself but also her unborn child.

One of the most emotionally moving parts of the entire series is when Robin West’s father Rev. Leroy West meets up with Taylor and comforts her. Taylor tells him, “I really appreciate you checking up on me.” He responds, “I’ve lost a daughter but gained a daughter.” They embrace in a very heartfelt moment that looks completely authentic, not staged.

Earlier in the episode Leroy West and his son Azrien Lee-West talk about what Robin was like. They both describe her as having a lively personality but she began to become rebellious at age 15 when her parents separated in 2016. Leroy says that whatever sex worker activity that Robin was involved with, she was new to it when she was murdered. Leroy comments on being angry at Wheeler-Weaver: “My anger is not going to bring my daughter back. Helping people is a way of keeping Robin alive.”

Other people interviewed in the “Good Guys Gone Bad” episode are Michael Krusznis, retired lieutenant of the Newark Police Department; Paul Sarabando, retired sergeant of the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office; Lea Webb, New York state senator of the 52nd District; Anthony Johnson of WABC-TV New York; and journalist Julia Martin.

If there’s any constructive criticism of this docuseries, it’s that documentary could have had an episode for a murder case involving an Indigenous/Native American person. Cases involving missing and murdered people have devastated a significant percentage of the Native American population but these cases rarely get national media coverage. During the media frenzy when travel vlogger Gabby Petito went missing in Wyoming in 2021, there were 51 Indigenous/Native American people (most of them women) who were reported missing in Wyoming in 2021, according to the National Crime Information Center. None of these cases for Indigenous/Native American people got even a tiny fraction of the media attention that Petito’s case got.

“Murder Has Two Faces” might not eliminate the problem of racial inequalities in how murders are reported by the media and investigated by law enforcement. However, this documentary series is a definite step in the right direction in bringing more awareness to the added injustice of certain crime victims being treated as inferior because of their race. And hopefully, this documentary will inspire more people to make a difference in reducing this problem.

Hulu premiered “Murder Has Two Faces” on May 6, 2025.

Review: ‘Little Richard: I Am Everything,’ starring Little Richard

January 24, 2023

by Carla Hay

“Little Richard: I Am Everything”

Directed by Lisa Cortés

Culture Representation: In the documentary film “Little Richard: I Am Everything,” a group of African Americans and white people discuss the impact of rock and roll pioneer Little Richard, who died in 2020, at the age of 87.

Culture Clash: Little Richard experienced homophobia, racism, cultural appropriation, drug addiction and showbiz ripoffs during his many ups and downs.

Culture Audience: Besides appealing to the target audience of fans of Little Richard, “Little Richard: I Am Everything” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in watching documentaries about music legends who influenced countless entertainers.

“Little Richard: I Am Everything” vibrantly captures the spirit of rock music pioneer Little Richard and doesn’t shy away from exploring his many contradictions. The documentary stumbles by adding sparkly visual effects to make him look “magical,” but these corny embellishments don’t ruin the movie. “Little Richard: I Am Everything” can at least be applauded for not sticking to an entirely predictable format, since the movie does a few other things in its effort to not be a typical biographical documentary.

Directed by Lisa Cortés, “Little Richard: I Am Everything” had its world premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. The documentary unfolds in chronological order and has an expected mixture of archival footage of Little Richard (who died in 2020, at the age of 87) and exclusive documentary interviews with family members, associates, celebrity admirers and various culture experts. People don’t have to be fans of rock music to know that Little Richard was one of the originators of the genre. However, may people who are unfamiliar with him as an artist might be surprised by how his life went from one extreme to the other, often by his own doing.

People knowledgeable about rock history will also know already that Little Richard—just like other African American artists who were pioneers in rock music—was frequently ripped off creatively and financially. He was never fully appreciated by the industry when he was in the prime of his career. It was only after he loudly complained for years about not getting the recognition he deserved that he started to receive many industry accolades.

For example, Little Richard never won a Grammy Award in a competitive category (the Grammys Awards were launched in 1960, after Little Richard’s hitmaking career peaked), but he did receive a non-competitive Lifetime Achievement Grammy in 1993, long after he stopped making hit records. He was in the first group of artists inducted into the Rock and Roll of Fame in January 1986, but he couldn’t attend the ceremony because he had the bad luck of being seriously injured in a car accident in October 1985. (He fell asleep behind the wheel of the car.)

Born in Macon, Georgia, in 1932, Richard Wayne Penniman (Little Richard’s birth name) knew from an early age that he wanted to be a flamboyant entertainer, starting from when he used to dress up in his mother’s clothes when he was a child. Little Richard, who grew up in a strict Christian household, was the third-youngest of 12 children. His mother Leva Mae Penniman accepted him for who he was, but his father Charles “Bud” Penniman would brutally abuse Richard for being effeminate.

Bud Penniman was also a study in contradictions: He was church deacon and a brick mason, but he was also a bootlegger who owned a small nightclub and a house where he sold alcoholic drinks, which were illegal at the time. Ralph Harper, a former neighbor of the Penniman family, has this memory of Little Richard: “He was always banging on the piano, anytime you see him.”

Muriel Jackson, head of the Middle Georgia Archives, comments on Macon’s culture: “Macon is known for its churches. It’s a conservative, religious town.” Therefore, Little Richard wasn’t just bullied at home for being who he was. He also got a lot of abuse from other people in the community.

Specialty Records historian Billy Vera says, “They called him a sissy, a punk” and much worse. Emmy-winning and Tony-winning entertainer Billy Porter (who is openly gay) adds, “I can only imagine. I’ve lived a version of that. It’s debilitating. It’s soul-crushing. And it can be deadly.”

Little Richard spent the early years of his entertainment career in that vortex of contradictions: He would play the piano or sing in the choir in the stern atmosphere of conservative church gatherings, but he would also perform in the much-less restrictive (and taboo at the time) gay-friendly nightclubs in Macon and later Atlanta. He would often appear in drag at these shows under the stage name Princess LaVonne. In those days, it was illegal for men to dress in drag in public, unless they it was part of an entertainment act.

One of his frequent hangouts was Ann’s Tic Toc in Macon. And as a teenager, Little Richard worked at the Macon City Auditorium, where it made a huge impact on him to see many artists up close and backstage. The documentary mentions that when Little Richard saw his idol Sister Rosetta Tharpe (a guitar-playing vanguard in rock music) do a concert at the Macon City Auditorium in 1945, it changed his life. His piano-playing style was influenced by how Ike Turner played piano on Jackie Brenston’s 1957 song “Rocket 88.”

Little Richard was influential to countless artists, but there were people who influenced him on his artistic image/persona. In addition to Tharpe, another performer who helped shape Little Richard’s entertainment style was an openly gay drag performer named Billy Wright, who met Little Richard at the Gold Peacock nightclub in Atlanta in 1950, and they eventually became close friends. Wright had a pompadour hairstyle, wore heavy makeup, and had a thin moustache, which all eventually became signature looks for Little Richard. Did Little Richard copy Wright? Not really, as scholar Zandria Robinson explains: “They were kind of like mirrors that come into your life and show you who you really are.

In the early 1950s, black artists were limited to performing R&B, blues, jazz and gospel. The documentary mentions that when Little Richard was looking for a record deal, he didn’t quite fit in with any of these music genres, even though he was repeatedly told that he should perform blues, according to his longtime drummer Charles Connor. Instead, Little Richard was part of a small but growing number of black artists pioneering a new form of music that combined blues and R&B and made it more energetic, raucous and sexually frank. At first, this new form of music was called “race music” (to indicate that it was performed by black artists) but eventually became known as rock and roll.

Little Richard signed a deal with Signature Records. And his music as a rock artist eventually became hits not just on the R&B charts, but made their way as crossover hits on the pop charts. It’s mentioned that cars being made with radios had a big impact on people (especially the young people who tended to be rock fans) being able to listen to rock music away from home. It was during the 1950s that Little Richard had his biggest and most famous hits, including “Tutti Frutti” (a song that he later admitted was about anal sex, but he changed the lyrics before recording it), “Long Tall Sally,” “Good Golly, Miss Molly” and “Lucille.”

His stage act became known for his “let it all hang out” style of banging on the piano (often with a leg propped up on the piano) with passionate sexual energy that wasn’t often seen in piano players at the time. Little Richard was sexually ambiguous at a time when it was very dangerous for performers, especially male performers, to be sexually ambiguous. It’s noted in the documentary that Little Richard’s father eventually came to accept him after Richard became a local star in the Georgia music scene. Tragically, Bud Penniman was shot to death in 1952, outside his Tip In Inn nightclub. No suspect was ever charged with this murder, but Little Richard said for years that the culprit was Frank Tanner, who was Little Richard’s best friend at the time.

By 1956, Little Richard had moved to Los Angeles and brought many of his siblings with him. Several people in the documentary talk about how generous he was with family, friends and associates. Throughout it all, Little Richard’s mother was one of his biggest fans. Little Richard’s longtime drag-queen friend Sir Lady Java (an activist/entrepreneur) says in the documentary about Leva Mae Penniman: “She was such a beautiful person. She knew who he was and what he was. And she loved him in spite of it.”

Tom Jones says in the documentary that out of the five artists who are considered the first megastars of rock and roll—Little Richard, Fats Domino, Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis—”Little Richard was the strongest.” By the early 1960s, Little Richard was usually named as one of the biggest influences of a slew of British artists who were making their mark in rock and roll. The Beatles (who hung out with Little Richard in the band’s pre-fame nightclub stint in Liverpool, England, and in Hamburg, Germany) and the Rolling Stones jumped at the chance to perform on the same bill with Little Richard.

Robinson says that Little Richard’s upbringing in the South both tormented him and was inherent to who he was: “The South is the home of all things queer, of the different, of the non-normative, of the other side of gothic, of the grotesque. Note that queerness is not just about sexuality but about a presence and a space that is different from what we require or expect.” In other words, it doesn’t mean that queerness is more likely to be found in the South but that during Little Richard’s youth, the issues of race, social class and sexuality were more dangerous for people in certain parts of the South, such as his hometown of Macon, than in other parts of the United States.

After he became famous, Richard would change the descriptions of his sexual identity many times. Sometimes, he identified as gay. Sometimes, he identified as straight, during the periods of time when he became a born-again Christian who renounced any sexual identity that wasn’t heterosexual. Sometimes, he identified as bisexual or queer. Regardless of what his sexual identity was or was perceived to be, Little Richard could not be reasonably confused with any other entertainer because he had such a strong and distinct persona.

Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger, who says Little Richard was one of his biggest influences, comments on Little Richard’s persona: “It was almost like having a split personality.” The Rolling Stones were the opening act for Little Richard at the beginning of the British band’s career in the early 1960s. Jagger said he used that opportunity to study Little Richard’s onstage persona: “I would be at the side of the stage to watch him. Richard would work that audience.” Jagger, who started his career with a performing style of standing still a lot on stage, changed that style and took on some of the same techniques that Little Richard used, and which Jagger still uses today.

Tony Newman, drummer of the British band Sounds Incorporated, has fond memories of working as a backup musician for Little Richard, whom he met in London in 1962. “Nearly every night,” Newman says, “it escalated into a full-blown riot in the theater. I remember coming off of that and thinking, ‘Now this is rock and roll!”

A great deal of the documentary repeats information that music historians already know but other people might not know about how much white artists and music companies owned by white people benefited and often ripped off the work of innovative black artists such as Little Richard. Elvis Presley and Pat Boone were two of the white artists who’ve famously done cover versions of Little Richard songs. The documentary points out that while Presley often acknowledged Little Richard for being an influence that was crucial to Presley’s success (Presley publicly called Little Richard the “real king of rock and roll”), Boone was not as gracious in admitting how much Boone was profiting off of music originally made by black artists such as Little Richard. In most cases, white artists got more money and recognition for performing songs originally performed by black artists than the black artists who were the originators of these songs.

This documentary didn’t have to do any real investigating to reveal any big secrets about Little Richard when it came to sex, drugs and rock’n’roll, because Little Richard told secrets about himself years ago in numerous interviews. The documentary includes clips of TV and radio interviews where he openly talks about indulging in sex orgies and experiencing drug addiction in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. He also participated in Charles White’s 1984 non-fiction tell-all book “The Life and Times of Little Richard,” which had a lot of details of Little Richard’s decadent lifestyle. The only viewers of this documentary who might be surprised by all this information are people who don’t know much about Little Richard.

As hedonistic as he admittedly was, there were periods of time in his life in the 1950s and the 1970s, when he denounced his “sinful” lifestyle and became a religious fanatic who gave up rock music to perform gospel music. In the late 1950s, he attended Oakwood University, a Seventh-day Adventist school in Huntsville, Alabama. These born-again Christian phases in his life often included Little Richard claiming that he was drug-free and no longer condoning of non-heterosexuality. This self-shame about his sexuality seemed to come and go in Little Richard’s life, which made him someone who was unpredictable and difficult for many people to figure out.

“Little Richard: I Am Everything” includes interviews with Lee Angel, who famously told the world decades ago that Little Richard seduced her in 1955, when she was 16 years old, and he asked her to marry him, but she said no. In the documentary, Angel says she’s not convinced that Little Richard was ever 100% gay. “He slept with me, and I’m all woman,” she declares proudly, although she admits she was initially surprised that he was sexually attracted to her because she thought he was more sexually interested in men. (Angel passed away in 2022.) The documentary does not have interviews with any of Little Richard’s male ex-lovers.

During one of his born-again Christian phases, Little Richard married Ernestine Harvin (also known as Ernestine Campbell) in 1959. They divorced in 1964. Harvin is interviewed in the documentary (audio only, not on camera) and says of her marriage to Little Richard: “Richard was the kind of husband most women would want: always positive, loving and caring.” Was Little Richard sexually confused? As scholar Jason King sees it: “He was very good at liberating other people through example. He was not good at liberating himself.”

“Little Richard: I Am Everything” also includes some mention of Little Richard’s battles and complaints about being cheated out of royalties, due to signing recording contracts and publishing deals where he received little to no money. Music attorney John Branca says that a lot of these legal issues had to do with Little Richard breaching his contracts during the periods of time when he refused to perform rock music and only wanted to do gospel. However, it’s a common story that many famous music artists, regardless of their race, regret signing deals that they later said were ripoffs where the artists didn’t get paid and sometimes ended up owing money.

Regardless of how much money or how little money Little Richard made from record sales or songwriting royalties, he still managed to be a popular live act and would tour regularly until the later stages in his life. Little Richard also dabbled in acting, usually making guest appearances and cameos in movies and TV shows. His more memorable film roles were in the 1986 comedy “Down and Out in Beverly Hills” and the 1993 action film “Last Action Hero.” The documentary does not mention the 2000 NBC TV-movie biopic “Little Richard,” starring Leon, who is not interviewed in the documentary.

One of the ways that “Little Richard: I Am Everything” tries to be different from the usual music documentary is by having artists who aren’t very famous do performances of songs that helped influence or define Little Richard. Valerie June performs Tharpe’s “Strange Things Are Happening Every Day” in the segment that talks about Tharpe. Cory henry recreates Little Richard’s performance of “Tutti Frutti” at the Dew Drop Inn in New Orleans. John P. Kee performs “Standing in the Need” during the segment talking about one of Little Richard’s gospel music phases.

During these performances and in some footage of Little Richard, the documentary has visual effects of glowing dust that floats through the air, as if it’s some kind of magical aura from Little Richard that’s being passed though the ether. It’s not as cringeworthy as sparkling vampires in the “Twilight” movies, but it looks very over-the-top and quite unnecessary. Little Richard did not lead a fairytale life. There’s no need to conjure up images that he spread some kind of mystical dust, as if he’s some kind of character from a Disney animated movie. The fascinating stories told about Little Richard by himself and other people are more than enough to be intriguing.

Other people interviewed in the documentary include his cousins Newt Collier and Stanley Stewart; Little Richard’s former manager Ramon Hervey; filmmaker John Waters; ethnomusicologist Gredara Hadley; entertainment agent Libby Anthony; singer Nona Hendryx; historian Tavia Nyong’o; former Oakwood University classmate Dewitt Williams; former Little Richard road manager Keith Winslow, whose other was a teacher at Oakwood University; bass player Charles Glenn, who was in Little Richard’s band; booking agent Morris Roberts; and producer/songwriter Nile Rodgers, who says that David Bowie wanted Bowie’s 1983’s smash hit “Let’s Dance” album (which Rodgers produced) to be heavily influenced by Little Richard. The documentary could have used more interviews with female musicians other than Hendryx, but it’s an overall diverse mix of people.

“Little Richard: I Am Everything” keeps the storytelling lively, thanks to some great editing by Nyneve Laura Minnear and Jake Hostetter. There’s a particularly powerful montage near the end of the film that juxtaposes archival footage of Little Richard and all the artists who have been directly or indirectly influenced by him over the years, including Elton John, Bowie, Jagger, Prince, Lady Gaga, Lizzo, former “Pose” star Porter and Harry Styles. “Little Richard: I Am Everything” is a perfect title for this movie, because it shows how Little Richard was at times (often to a fault) all things to many people. However conflicted he might have been in his personal life and career, this documentary eloquently demonstrates how Little Richard represents the glory and pain of expressing yourself freely, no matter what the consequences.

Magnolia Films will release “Little Richard: I Am Everything” in select U.S. cinemas and on VOD on April 21, 2023, with sneak-preview screenings in select U.S. cinemas on April 11, 2023. CNN and HBO Max will premiere the movie on dates to be announced.