Cleopatra had ‘white skin and Hellenistic characteristics’, Egypt tells Netflix amid Queen Cleopatra casting controversy
- Was Egypt’s Queen Cleopatra black? That’s the hotly debated question surrounding a forthcoming Netflix series
- Egypt’s antiquities ministry insists she had ‘white skin and Hellenistic characteristics’, as ‘Queen Cleopatra’ show causes controversy
Egypt’s antiquities ministry insisted on Thursday that Cleopatra had “white skin and Hellenistic characteristics” in an ongoing row over a Netflix drama-documentary depicting the famed beauty of antiquity as black.
Queen Cleopatra, produced by Jada Pinkett Smith and starring Adele James, is due for release on the streaming platform on May 10.
“As Egypt’s last pharaoh, Cleopatra fights to protect her throne, family and legacy in this docudrama featuring re-enactments and expert interviews,” the Netflix site says in promoting its upcoming production.
But even before its release, Queen Cleopatra has already caused a storm of controversy in the North African nation.
An online petition accusing the production of rewriting history has already garnered more than 40,000 signatures.
And in a country where calls for Netflix to be banned for content deemed offensive to Egypt or “its family values”, MP Saboura al-Sayyed has again urged parliament to ban the platform.