Twin Cities, Internet Go Crazy For TV Footage Of 11-Year-Old Prince

MINNEAPOLIS —A week after the teachers strike ended in Minneapolis, a local teachers strike from 52 years ago is in the news after WCCO TV discovered that its archived footage of the event contains an interview with an 11-year-old boy named Prince Rogers Nelson.

The boy went on to become a one-named — and later just a symbol — pop superstar. Nearly, six years after Prince's death, the video from April 1970 is making people go a bit crazy.

In the video, shot during a picket line, a reporter asks the boy — who never actually gives his name — if most of the kids are in favor of the picketing.

The boy, who is wearing a blue coat and blue and gray hat — but no visible purple — said they were.

"I think they should get a better education too cause, um, and I think they should get some more money cause they work, they be working extra hours for us and all that stuff," the boy said.

The story about how the video was found, and how the boy was identified as Prince, was told this week by WCCO Production Manager Matt Liddy.

Liddy said the station restored the film recently to offer some historical context to the 2022 teachers strike.

A Minneapolis native, Liddy decided to look over the film.

"All I cared about was looking at cool old buildings from the place I grew up. Did I recognize my old school? Did I recognize any landmarks?” Liddy said.

That's when he came across the interview with the young boy. Though Liddy and several colleagues believed it was Prince, they needed to verify it with people who knew more about the footage and the singer.

The investigation eventually led to Kristen Zschomler, a professional historian and archeologist who researches properties and landmarks around the Twin Cities.

Zschomler, who also is a big Prince fan, said she believed the archival footage was shot outside of Lincoln Junior High, where Prince would have been a 6th grader in 1970.

Liddy's investigation later moved on to Terrance Jackson, a childhood friend of Prince's, who actually was in the artist's first band.

Seeing the video, Jackson said it absolutely was his friend, whose nickname was "Skipper."

"That is Prince! Standing right there with the hat on, right? That's Skipper! Oh my God!" Jackson said.

After hearing Prince speak, WCCO reported that Jackson was wiping tears from his eyes and laughing.

"Wow," Jackson said. "I am like blown away. I'm totally blown away."

Jackson added: "He was already playing guitar and keys by then, phenomenally. Music became our sport. Because he was athletic, I was athletic, but we wanted to compete musically."

Since the footage hit the Internet in recent days, others also have offered their thoughts on seeing the young Prince.

On Tuesday, Sharon Nelson, Prince's sister, posted the video on Twitter and wrote: "As you can see in addition to being a fantastic musician at this young age, my brother was also mindful and outspoken for the rights of others."

Meanwhile, Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, a recent Oscar and Grammy winner who also is the drummer for The Roots, tweeted the video with the words "Wow Y'all. This is crazy."