The streaming giant has angered a lot of people by portraying the famous Queen of the Nile as a black woman. The problem with that is Cleopatra was not black… and Egypt is pissed and now, they’re suing Netflix.
The People’s Voice reported that Netflix is desperate to find new black heroes for its woke content, and “Queen Cleopatra,” produced by Jada Pinkett Smith, wife of Will Smith, chose to cast Casualty actress Adele James as the iconic Egyptian monarch. However, in reality, Cleopatra VII, the last pharaoh of ancient Egypt, was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, which descended from Ptolemy I, a Macedonian Greek general who served under Alexander the Great.
As a result, some argue that Cleopatra’s ancestry was primarily Greek, and thus, she should not be portrayed as a black queen.
Calling for the Netflix production team to be punished for participating in a “crime” against Egypt and its culture, Egyptian lawyer Mahmoud al-Semary argued that the recently-released trailer promotes a divisive Afrocentrism.
“In order to preserve the Egyptian national and cultural identity among Egyptians all over the world there must be pride in the makings of such work,” the attorney said, adding that most of Netflix’s offerings “do not conform to Islamic and societal values and principles, especially Egyptian ones.”
The complaint also accuses Netflix and the makers of ‘Queen Cleopatra’ of “forgery.” Actress Adele James, who portrays the iconic Egyptian queen in the film, vowed to block all detractors on social media after Twitter users accused her of cultural appropriation.
Former Egyptian Antiquities Minister Zahi Hawass condemned the production last week for “falsifying facts,” pointing out that “Cleopatra was Greek, meaning that she was blonde, not black.”
Calling on Egyptians to speak out against Netflix’s revisionism, Hawass excoriated the trend that has emerged in some American black populations of claiming the Egyptian civilization actually came from black Africa.
“Netflix is trying to stir up confusion to spread false information that the origin of Egyptian civilization is black,” he said, insisting such claims were categorically false.
We should not be re-writing history. This is disinformation and lies.
Just tell the truth, and stop trying to score “woke” points with this nonsense.
