Netflix documentary on Cleopatra sparks backlash internationally over casting

Once again...

Netflix documentary on Cleopatra sparks backlash internationally over casting

DUBAI: A four-part documentary executive produced by US actress Jada Pinkett Smith for Netflix is coming under fire on social media over its portrayal of Cleopatra by a Black actress.

Detractors on TikTok and Twitter are decrying the upcoming documentary, set to premiere on May 10, which features actress Adele James in the role of the queen of Egypt.

In the trailer for the documentary, one commentator says: “My grandmother said, ‘I don’t care what they tell you in school, Cleopatra was black.’”

Interesting that this is a story in The Arab News. I wonder if Arabs are resentful of being represented in media by the West?

 

If they're not portraying Egyptians as being the same shade of black as Nigerians then it has to be racist. Hollywood needs to take a look at their casting calls.

 

Dig up Liz Taylor - problem solved

 

Egyptians complain over Netflix depiction of Cleopatra as black.

'Hollywood being ignorant of history is one thing. Being maleducated and indoctrinated is another.'

https://www.news.com.au › entertainment › tv › egypt-furious-over-netflixs-blackwashing-of-cleopatra › news-story › ab2cd44e16ae03b1e3c6bd79c00cc625
Cleopatra Netflix: Egypt furious at depiction of Cleopatra as black ...

'Egypt furious over Netflix's 'blackwashing' of Cleopatra. An upcoming docudrama that depicts Cleopatra as black has sparked fury in Egypt and the nation wants the ...'

Egypt furious over Netflix’s ‘blackwashing’ of Cleopatra.

'“African Queens: Queen Cleopatra” is narrated and executive produced by Jada Pinkett Smith, 51, and stars Adele James, 27, who is bi-racial, as the legendary queen of Egypt, whose specific race has long been the subject of historical dispute, the New York Post reports.'

'Egyptologist Zahi Hawass, who previously served as the nation’s antiquities minister, is not happy with the “completely fake” portrayal of the famous queen, who he claims was wholly Greek — and “not black.” He’s accused Netflix of “trying to provoke confusion by spreading false and deceptive facts that the origin of the Egyptian civilisation is black.”'

'“Cleopatra was Greek, meaning that she was light-skinned, not black,” the archaeologist told the Al-Masry al-Youm newspaper'

'lawyer Mahmoud al-Semary filed a complaint Sunday with the country’s public prosecutor to demand that Netflix be blocked in Egypt, claiming they are trying to “promote the Afrocentric thinking … which includes slogans and writings aimed at distorting and erasing the Egyptian identity.”'

'Cleopatra was born in Alexandria in 69 B.C., and was the last ruler of a Macedonian Greek dynasty that began with Alexander the Great’s general Ptolemy.'

I'd show and let folks make up their own minds whether to watch it.

 

Well the results are in.