America's Most Hated Family in Crisis
| America's Most Hated Family in Crisis | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Written by | Louis Theroux |
| Story by | About the most hated family |
| Directed by | Emma Cooper |
| Starring | Louis Theroux |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Emma Cooper Nick Mirsky |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Distributor | BBC |
| Release | |
| Original release | 3 April 2011 |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | Ultra Zionists |
| Followed by | Miami Mega Jail |
America's Most Hated Family in Crisis is a 2011 BBC documentary film presented and written by Louis Theroux, who revisits the family at the core of the Westboro Baptist Church. It is a follow up to 2007's The Most Hated Family in America, also written and presented by Theroux.
The documentary first aired on BBC Two in the United Kingdom on 3 April 2011 at 9pm. It received mainly positive reviews from critics, with the Metro calling it "terrifying". The documentary had 3.33 million viewers and was BBC Two's most watched programme of that week.
The documentary focuses on the Westboro Baptist Church, headed by Fred Phelps (who died in 2014) and based in Topeka, Kansas. Born in 1929 in Meridian, Mississippi, Phelps conducted himself in the belief that he was a prophet chosen by God "to preach His message of hate". Phelps was ordained a Southern Baptist in 1947. The Westboro Baptist Church was started by Phelps in 1955. Members of the church meet in Phelps's residence; the majority of the group's adherents are his family. Phelps received an associate's degree from John Muir Junior College in 1951, a bachelor's degree in 1962 and a degree in law in 1964 from Washburn University. He formed a "crusade for righteousness", attempting to abolish Jim Crow laws in Topeka.
In 1991 when a local park started to serve as a meeting place for homosexual men, Phelps began to protest against homosexuality. Phelps subsequently enlarged the scope of his activities and formed protests in areas where civil rights were being debated for LGBT people. Phelps received criticism in 1998 when he repeatedly exclaimed "Matt is in hell" during the funeral of Matthew Shepard, a man murdered for being homosexual.
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