Egyptian Government Agency Responds to The Cleopatra Casting Controversy

Netflix’s Queen Cleopatra documentary series has stirred up controversy in Egypt over its casting of a black actor as the ancient ruler. 

Adele James, a British actress of mixed race, plays Cleopatra VII Philopator, the last queen of Egypt and a descendant of a Greek dynasty. Many Egyptians have accused Netflix and the director Tina Gharavi of blackwashing history and erasing the Egyptian identity. 

However, the producer and the actress have defended their choice, saying that Cleopatra’s ethnicity is not the focus of the show and that there are different theories about her possible African ancestry.

According to Deadline, the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), an Egyptian government agency, has issued a statement on Thursday to address the controversy over the casting of Queen Cleopatra. 

The SCA Secretary General Mostafa Waziri said that Cleopatra VII had “fair skin and Hellenistic (Greek) features,” and cited early portrayals of the queen with “light skin, narrow nose and thin lips.” 

See more of what the SCA said below:

The appearance of the heroine is a falsification of Egyptian history and a blatant historical fallacy, especially since the film is classified as a documentary film and not a dramatic work, which requires those in charge of its production to investigate accuracy and rely on historical and scientific facts to ensure that history and civilizations are not falsified.

The rejection experienced by the film before it comes out is sparked out of defense of the history of Queen “Cleopatra VII”, which is an important and authentic part of the ancient history of Egypt, and far from any ethnic racism, with full respect for African civilizations and for our brothers in the African continent that brings us all together.

Cleopatra was the last Egyptian ruler from the Ptolemaic dynasty, which had Greek Macedonian origins. 

She has been portrayed in many different ways in art, film and TV for over a hundred years, such as by Elizabeth Taylor in the 1963 film Cleopatra and Lyndsey Marshal in HBO’s Rome, to name a few. 

Her ethnicity has been a subject of controversy for a long time, partly because of these diverse representations and partly because of the gaps in her family tree.

Many people have signed petitions to boycott the show and urge Netflix to take it down. 

Netflix responded by saying that they consulted with experts and historians and that their portrayal of Cleopatra was based on “theories that suggest she had some Egyptian ancestry, and that Ancient Egypt was a diverse society.”

Audiences can see why the film has gotten so much criticism when it premiers on May 10.

About Queen Cleopatra (2023)

Queen Cleopatra is an American docudrama series that was released on Netflix on May 10, 2023. This series explores Queen Cleopatra, Egypt’s last pharoah. It is executive produced by Jada Pinkett Smith.

From Executive Producer Jada Pinkett Smith comes a documentary series exploring the lives of prominent and iconic African Queens. This season will feature Queen Cleopatra, the world’s most famous, powerful, and misunderstood woman — a daring queen whose beauty and romances came to overshadow her real asset: her intellect.

Cleopatra’s heritage has been the subject of much academic debate, which has often been ignored by Hollywood. Now our series re-assesses this fascinating part of her story.