Big Freedia is famed for her music and twerking; her life story and anti-gun activism are less well known. She was shot in 2004, her brother killed in 2018 and years earlier, her cousin "over a 10-speed bike."
Big Freedia talks about her life, her documentary Freedia Got A Gun, and her memoir Big Freedia: God Save the Queen Diva! on this week's Out in the Bay. She shares twerking tips, too, and some of her bounce music, including her new single, “Platinum.”
As a teen, Freddie Ross, Jr., was a choirboy, singing gospel in one of New Orleans’ toughest neighborhoods. He confronted poverty, racism, homophobia, fat-phobia and street violence on his road to becoming Big Freedia, ambassador of New Orleans Bounce, expanding queer visibility along the way.
She decided to use her platform for change after her brother’s killing. Her activism is chronicled in Freedia Got A Gun, a documentary The New York Times calls “a call to arms to address the gun violence epidemic in New Orleans.”
Big Freedia hopes the film will draw local and national attention to the tragedies of gun violence on communities, families and individuals. “I wanted to make sure that his death was not in vain.”
Hear more and learn more at OutintheBay.org