# Prince and the documentary that can't be released (NY Times longread)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-and-the-documentary-that-cant-be-released-ny-times-longread/1007051>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Tags:** movies, documentary-bio, music\
**Created:** [September 10, 2024, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-and-the-documentary-that-cant-be-released-ny-times-longread/1007051 "2024-09-10T10:52:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Chad\_Sudan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chad_sudan/32/4509_2.png) [@Chad\_Sudan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chad_Sudan)\
**Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-and-the-documentary-that-cant-be-released-ny-times-longread/1007051/1 "2024-09-10T10:52:05Z")

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A nine-hour documentary shows 1980s pop legend Prince as you’ve never seen him before. But if Prince’s estate has its way, you won’t see it at all.

[This _New York Times_ story](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/08/magazine/prince-netflix-ezra-edelman-documentary.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Jk4.ok1I.xxQkeDQfrAlQ&smid=url-share) (gift link) is gripping. A must-read.

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**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\
**Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-and-the-documentary-that-cant-be-released-ny-times-longread/1007051/2 "2024-09-10T12:56:49Z")

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Great read. Thanks.

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**Author:** ![JohnnyEcks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnnyecks/32/18197_2.png) [@JohnnyEcks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnnyEcks)\
**Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-and-the-documentary-that-cant-be-released-ny-times-longread/1007051/3 "2024-09-10T13:04:52Z")

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I haven’t read the article yet, but is it similar to Kevin Smith’s Prince documentary story?

-For those unfamiliar, Kevin Smith made a documentary for Prince, and afterwards asked when it would be released. Prince’s people said it wouldn’t be released, and it was going to go into the vault with all the other stuff.

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**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\
**Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prince-and-the-documentary-that-cant-be-released-ny-times-longread/1007051/4 "2024-09-10T15:42:44Z")

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Not the same.

I remember seeing a video of one of Kevin Smith’s college talks that included the story about his Prince doc. At the very beginning of the tale I was thinking “Doesn’t he know? Prince will never let it be released.” And sure enough that’s what happened.

Smith came over as really uninformed about this and other matters. E.g., he was surprised to learn that the women at strip clubs would lie to get more money out of customers.