There’s a lot of controversy online between historians and Egyptians over Netflix’s upcoming historical drama centered around Queen Cleopatra. Critics for the trailer have been pouring in since its premiere just under a week ago, prompting the streaming giant to shut down the comments box for the video, which at the time of writing has over 300,000 likes. “dislike” comments, compared to only 25,000 likes.
The reason behind all this is that Netflix and the creators of the series have chosen to Adele James as an actress to play the historic leader. Basically, they portray the leader as having African roots and trying to promote the show as historically accurate. Academics strongly oppose the move, and now the platform is accused of tampering with history.
Cleopatra (the real one) was born in Alexandria to a Greek dynasty of European descent, and Netflix’s attempt to sell its own truth has resulted in several lawsuits from prominent figures including Egyptian historians, as well as the country. attempts to block the broadcast of the program.
Jada Pinkett Smithone of the show’s producers, reportedly said she felt there wasn’t enough entertainment with African queens, which was reportedly one of her inspirations for the project.
“We often don’t get to see or hear stories about black queens, and that was really important to me and my daughter, and just so my community could hear about those stories. because there are tons of them!”
Adele James herself, who plays Cleopatra, has hit back at online critics, asking those who don’t like the cast not to watch the show.
What do you think of all this?