“Grand Knighthawk: Infiltrating the KKK” premieres on Hulu Thursday, April 27.
In a first-time collaboration, ABC News and The Associated Press have announced a documentary that takes viewers inside one of the world’s most sinister secret societies — the Ku Klux Klan. Based on an award-winning investigative AP series, the true-crime documentary captures the infiltration of the klan in northern Florida by a former Army infantryman named Joe Moore and includes exclusive new interviews with the FBI agents who oversaw the operation and exposes systemic corruption. “Grand Knighthawk: Infiltrating the KKK” premieres April 27 on Hulu.
Produced by award-winning anchor and journalist George Stephanopoulos and his production unit, George Stephanopoulos Productions within ABC News Studios, the documentary follows Moore, an undercover source working for the FBI. Told through firsthand accounts and rarely heard undercover audio and video recordings, Moore’s operation exposes not just the perverseness of white supremacy in the Deep South but also its troubling intersection with law enforcement.
The documentary marks the first time two of America’s largest and most-trusted news organizations are working together. AP award-winning journalist Jason Dearen’s investigative series “The Badge and the Cross” serves as the source material, which exposed ties between the white supremacist group and law enforcement. The series won the 2022 Online Journalism Award for feature reporting, large newsroom, as well as the Society for Professional Journalists’ 2022 Green Eyeshade Award for the best investigative reporting in the American South.
“Joe Moore’s story is chilling and instructive,” said ABC News’ “Good Morning America” and “This Week” anchor Stephanopoulos. “I’m grateful to Jason Dearen for uncovering it, and I’m honored to work with The Associated Press to bring this story to a wider audience.”
“The Associated Press is pleased to work with ABC News to bring to light a chilling investigation into the ongoing problem of extremist infiltration into U.S. law enforcement agencies,” said AP acting Global Investigative Editor Alison Kodjak. “The documentary reveals in granular detail an important story of systemic corruption.”
The AP project began in 2015 and centered on three current and former prison guards who authorities had arrested for plotting a former inmate’s murder and the FBI’s discovery that those guards were klansmen. Following the story for years, in 2020, Dearen received transcripts from the trial of the KKK members and learned that an FBI informant by the name of Joe Moore was the star witness. Moore’s story helped show how the state’s corrections system is designed to keep such reports inside prison walls.
“Grand Knighthawk: Infiltrating the KKK” is produced by George Stephanopoulos Productions and ABC News Studios in collaboration with The Associated Press. Jennifer Joseph is the executive producer for George Stephanopoulos Productions.
About ABC News Studios:
ABC News Studios, inspired by ABC News’ trusted reporting, is a premium, narrative non-fiction original production house and commissioning partner of series and specials. ABC News Studios champions untold and authentic stories driving the cultural zeitgeist spanning true crime, investigations, pop culture, and news-adjacent stories. Its subsidiary, ABC News Films, acquires and produces feature documentary films.
About George Stephanopoulos Productions:
George Stephanopoulos Productions is a production unit within ABC News Studios that focuses on nonfiction long-form projects, including news-making interviews and gripping investigations. Projects from the unit include “Two Men at War,” ”Out of the Shadows: The Man Behind the Steele Dossier,” “The Informant: Fear and Faith in the Heartland,” ABC News’ exclusive Emmy-nominated interview with actor Alec Baldwin, following the deadly shooting on the set of the film “Rust,” which aired in a primetime special, and “Power Trip,” a weekly docuseries that followed a group of seven campaign reporters as they covered the campaign trail leading into the 2022 midterm election, streaming on Hulu. Jennifer Joseph is the executive producer.
About AP:
The Associated Press is an independent global news organization dedicated to factual reporting. Founded in 1846, AP today remains the most trusted source of fast, accurate, unbiased news in all formats and the essential provider of the technology and services vital to the news business. More than half the world’s population sees AP journalism every day. Online: www.ap.org
