Netflix Documentary Series ‘Queen Cleopatra’ Faces Controversy: “Why Does It Bother You So Much That Cleopatra Is Black?”

The director of the Netflix documentary series ‘Queen Cleopatra’ has published an article justifying her decision to hire a black actress for the role of Cleopatra and charging against the toxic and racist comments emerged on social networks.

Jada Pinkett-Smiththe unwitting protagonist of her husband Will Smith’s infamous slap to Chris Rock, the most remembered moment of the Oscars 2022, is the creator of the series ‘African Queens’which in each season will address the figure of an important leader of the African continent.

The 4 episodes of the first season will focus on Cleopatra, the youngest queen of Egypt and, as the official synopsis reads, “the most famous, powerful and misunderstood woman in the world, a bold pharaoh whose loves and beauty eclipsed her true gift: her intellect.”

Cleopatra was born in the Egyptian city of Alexandria in 69 BC and became the last queen of a Greek-speaking dynasty founded by the Macedonian Ptolemy, general of Alexander the Great. She succeeded her father Ptolemy XII in 51 BC and he ruled until his death in 30 BC Egypt fell under the Roman yoke.

The governor had Macedonian and Greek origins on her father’s side, however the identity of the mother and, therefore, her ethnicity is unknown. Although many historians like Zahi Hawassthe most famous Egyptologist today, argue that Cleopatra had no African features and that her ancestry was purely Hellenic: “If you look at the statues of Cleopatra or the coins that bear his face and even his scene in the temple of Dendera in the south, none contain African features.”

The researcher has strongly charged against the decision of the Netflix series division and the director of the documentary, Tina Gharavi, to choose a mixed-race actress, the British Adele James, for the main role. “It is that Cleopatra was not black. I don’t really know why they are trying to do this. I think that by doing this, African Americans and Hispanics are trying to show that the origin of the ancient Egyptian civilization was African and that is not true.”

The filmmaker has defended herself in an article published in Varietystating that “The known facts are that her Greek/Macedonian family, the Ptolemaic lineage, intermarried into the West African Seleucid dynasty and remained in Egypt for 300 years. Cleopatra was eight generations from these Ptolemaic ancestors, making her the possibility of her being white was unlikely. After 300 years, we can surely say for sure that Cleopatra was Egyptian.. She was no more Greek or Macedonian than Rita Wilson or Jennifer Aniston, second generation of Greek origins. Why does it bother me so much that Cleopatra is black? And why do some people need Cleopatra to be white?”

Cleopatra has been portrayed on film only by white actresses, from Theda Bara and Elizabeth Taylor to Monica Bellucci, and recently the names of other performers of the Caucasian race such as Angelina Jolie and Gal Gadot had sounded for the role. Gharavi, of Persian origin, affirms that “Cleopatra is more likely to have resembled Adele than Elizabeth Taylor“.

“The HBO series ‘Rome’ portrayed one of the world’s most intelligent, sophisticated and powerful women as a sleazy, dissipated drug addict, but Egypt didn’t seem to care. Where was the outrage then? However, portraying her as black? Not there. The Egyptians have accused me of laundering and stealing their story.. Some threatened to ruin my career, which I wanted to tell you is ridiculous,” says the director.

Gharavi sentences: “But then, Cleopatra was black? We don’t know for sure, but we can be sure she wasn’t white like Elizabeth Taylor.. We need to have a conversation with ourselves about our colorism and the internalized white supremacy that Hollywood has indoctrinated us with. Above all, we must realize that Cleopatra’s story is less about her than about who we are.”

‘Queen Cleopatra’ premieres on Netflix on May 10, 2023.