The Netflix documentary “The Rise of the Red Hot Chili Peppers: Our Brother Hillel” is here – and Flea is visibly moved. What the RHCP bassist says about the film.
When the Red Hot Chili Peppers formed in 1982, a success story was to follow. The group continues to delight fans worldwide to this day. However, on June 25, 1988, a tragedy struck from which the band had difficulty recovering. The guitarist Hillel Slovak, a founding member, died of a drug overdose. The streaming service Netflix dedicated a documentary to the late musician, which was released on March 20, 2026.
Flea on Netflix documentary
The documentary about the deceased is called “The Rise of the Red Hot Chili Peppers: Our Brother Hillel”. For this, the former members and other people from the guitarist’s environment gave interviews about his life and career. In addition, Hillel Slovak’s old diary entries were read out in his own voice using AI.
Flea, was the first of all members of the group to comment on the documentary since its release and was visibly moved: The documentary “filled my heart to the brim.” He expressed his enthusiasm in a statement that he published in an Instagram story. It said: “I finally watched the new documentary about Hillel Slovak. I am so grateful that this film exists and that more people will now know how much he has meant and continues to mean to us as a friend and bandmate. It is a beautifully shot film that filled my heart to the brim – not without a fair amount of lifelong melancholy. Hillel forever.”
The bassist probably couldn’t have made a more emotional and positive statement.
Band originally distanced itself from documentation
Although the Red Hot Chili Peppers gave interviews and contributed a small part to the Netflix documentary, they did not play a major role in the production overall. Before the biographical work was published, they announced that it was not a Red Hot Chili Peppers documentary.
According to Flea’s statement, it can now be assumed that the band is happy with how the film honors their late colleague.
