A Black Queen Cleopatra? Egyptians lash out at Netflix’s depiction
Global News
The country has accused the streaming giant of misrepresenting history by casting a mixed-race woman to play the titular character in their upcoming show Queen Cleopatra.
Debates about the colour of Cleopatra’s skin have been reactivated, and this time it’s Egypt attempting to take Netflix to task.
The country has accused the streaming giant of misrepresenting history by casting a mixed-race woman to play the titular character in their upcoming show Queen Cleopatra.
Netflix released a trailer for the four-part docudrama last week, which stars Adele James as Cleopatra.
This week, the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities weighed in on the ongoing controversy, posting a lengthy statement to Facebook.
The statement, credited to the country’s Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Archeology, said that many experts in Egypt agree that “Queen Cleopatra was light-skinned and (had) Hellenic features.”
It also argues that the documentary nature of the series, which is produced by Jada Pinkett-Smith, “requires those in charge of its production to investigate accuracy and rely on historical and scientific facts.”
The ministry points to coins and statues from the time, arguing that they show a light-skinned woman, in keeping with Cleopatra’s Macedonian Greek ancestry.
For Mostafa Waziri, head of the Supreme Antiquities Council, depicting the Cleopatra as Black is nothing less than “a falsification of Egyptian history.”
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