Red Hot Chili Peppers have distanced themselves from an upcoming documentary about their former co-founding member Hillel Slovak.
The Under the Bridge hitmakers were interviewed for the Netflix show, The Rise of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, about the late guitarist – who died over a heroin overdose in 1988, aged 26 – but the Chili Peppers have insisted they had “nothing to do with [the documentary] creatively”.
The band said in a statement: “Dear people of the universe, about a year ago, we were asked to be interviewed for a documentary about Hillel Slovak. He was a founding member of the group, a great guitarist, and friend.
“We agreed to be interviewed out of love and respect for Hillel and his memory.
“However, this documentary is now being advertised as a Red Hot Chili Peppers documentary, which it is not.
“We had nothing to do with it creatively. We have yet to make a Red Hot Chili Peppers documentary.”
Red Hot Chili Peppers – who are made up of Anthony Kiedis, Flea Chad Smith, and John Frusciante – hope the forthcoming film will “spark interest” in the late guitarist.
They added: “The central subject of this current Netflix special is Hillel Slovak and we hope it sparks interest in him and his work.”
Kiedis and Flea are among the stars who have been interviewed for the upcoming documentary, which is directed by Ben Feldman.
According to Variety, the film was secretly screened at the Cannes Film Festival last year, where it was marketed to potential buyers, before further screenings in New York and Los Angeles.
Feldman said in a statement: “It’s a true honour to partner with Netflix to bring The Rise of the Red Hot Chili Peppers to a global audience.
“At its heart, this is a deeply relatable story – about the friendships that shape our identities and the lasting power of the bonds forged in adolescence.
“What’s less relatable, of course, is that here those friends went on to create one of the greatest rock bands in history. I’m profoundly grateful to the band and to Hillel’s family for their trust and generosity, and to Netflix for helping bring this story to the world stage.”
