Earlier this year comedian Kevin Hart's show in Egypt was canceled after he said ancient Egyptians were Black [click here if you missed that].
This week Netflix was forced to shut off the comments on the trailer for Jada Pinkett-Smith's new Cleopatra biopic because the fabled Egyptian Queen is portrayed as a Black woman...
Netflix has been forced to turn off comments for the official trailer of new docu-series Queen Cleopatra - after heated backlash and claims of 'blackwashing'.
In the show, which is due to air on May 10, Cleopatra is depicted as black, despite historical records showing she was of Macedonian Greek heritage.
The four-part series is produced by Jada Pinkett-Smith and stars actress Adele James, 37, as the titular character.
Queen Cleopatra will explore the legacy, intellect and life of Cleopatra VII, the Greek Queen of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC.
The trailer notes that Cleopatra belonged to the Ptolemaic dynasty but then goes on to dispute her heritage.
'It's possible she was an Egyptian' says one expert, while another adds: 'I remember my grandmother saying to me "I don't care what they tell you in school, Cleopatra was black."'
The two-minute official Trailer uploaded on April 12 has already amassed over 1.9 million views on YouTube.
Meanwhile, Netflix has been forced to turn comments off on the official trailer, after it was met with controversy.
A Change.org petition to cancel the show has amassed over 3,000 signatures. A previous petition - which was taken down - had over 62,000 signatures.
19 comments:
Very controversial indeed. There are people on both sides who will argue you down about the ethnicities of ancient Egyptians. My only position is that Egypt is in fact in Africa and Africa has more genetic diversity than any other continent because it is the birth of humanity.
Ancient Egyptians were not black, they were Egyptian. It's been said/proven that ancient Egyptians definitely had melanin in their skin but were they "black" as we know it today? Who knows. There's alot of ethnicities that have melanin and are not "Black"
At the time of Cleopatra Egypt was controlled by the Greeks. Ancient coins with Cleopatra’s image do not make her appear “African”. She wasn’t Elizabeth Taylor, but what she was is in dispute. Why does Jada need to claim this woman when there are so many clear-cut, undeniably African heroines who could use a biopic?
@9:06 race wasn't created until 1600's by Europeans. What does that mean exactly? It means that in ancient Africa different groups of people mingled, married, socialized, etc with each other. Colonizers gave negative attributes to "blacks" but prior to that being "black" wasn't a thing. These ancient communities had diversity and being "black" didn't exist. Africa has the most genetic diversity and Africa never represented specifically and only dark skinned people with nappy hair. Remember every variation of human appearance comes from ancient African DNA not the other way around.
They chose the wrong person to play cleopatra because Jada is nowhere a Queen nor does she carry herself as one
@9:28 We made the same point, with yours having an elaboration
Well what color was she, white. The Egyptians descend from Ham, who was the third son of Noah. Ham was also the progenitor of the Ethiopians, the Canaanites and the Cushites. Not the Negro. Ham was in fact a Dark race people. The people that are there now are NOT the original people of that land. Your fathers have inherited LIES.
It’s free with my phone package, so I’m watching.
She just going around pissing Errbody off.
Key word Jada. Fade to black.
@10:05 no ma'am
In the big picture Yt ppl have destroyed the minds of most ppl of color on this planet spreading negative thoughts on color and race. These Barbarians should have been killed off long before reaching other countries.
It's odd to me that a woman that speaks with an English tongue is the lead.
Yes at 1228 and 1230. They dirty asses shouldn't have been able to procreate
The way Anthony played Cleopatra I can happily see a WW take that L.
The Indigenous One said - All you have to do is look at the paintings inside the tombs. Do you see any white people? Say less. Read More.
The actor playing Cleopatra is clearly biracial so the fact that she has a level of melanin places her comfortably in current day Egypt and makes it look way more legit than Elizabeth Taylor. Kudos to Jada who can produce and fund the series.
History major here: Cleopatra was indeed mixed race because her father was a confirmed Macedonian Greek and I firmly believe her mom was a Black African, but much has been done to hide her mom's side which is peculiar. Also, ancient Egypt had no Arabs. Arabs are invaders who came much later and so why are they mad when they have zero history there? Lol
@Anonymous said...
@9:28 We made the same point, with yours having an elaboration
10:05 AM
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You did NOT make the same point as 9:28 who stated correctly, there was no such thing as Black before the 1600s.
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