A Netflix series depicting Queen Cleopatra VII as a black African has sparked controversy in Egypt.

A lawyer filed a complaint accusing the docudrama Queen Cleopatra (“Queen Cleopatra”) of violating media laws and trying to “distort and erase Egyptian identity”.

In addition, a leading archaeologist insisted that Cleopatra was “fair-skinned, not black”.

But the show’s producer said “Her parentage is hotly debated” and the actress who plays her, Adele James, hit back at critics: “If you don’t like the cast, don’t watch the show”.

James made the comment in a Twitter post with screenshots of offensive comments containing racial slurs.

egyptian queen

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 general Ptolemy, sent by Alexander the Great.

He succeeded his father Ptolemy XII in 51 BC and reigned until his death in 30 BC. Later, Egypt fell under Roman rule.

The identity of Cleopatra’s mother is unknown, and historians say it is possible that she, or another female ancestor, was a native Egyptian or came from other parts of Africa.

Netflix’s Tudum website reported in February that the casting of James, a mixed-race British actress, as Cleopatra in the new series was “a nod to the age-old conversation about the ruler’s race”.

Adele James was part of the BBC series “Casualty” in 2021.

In the meantime, Jada Pinkett Smiththe American actress who was an executive producer and narrator was quoted as saying:

“We don’t often see or hear stories about black queens, and that was very important to me, but also to my daughter, and to my community to be able to hear about those stories, because there are millions of them!”

response in Egypt

When the trailer was released last week, many Egyptians condemned the depiction of Cleopatra.

Zahi Hawass, a leading Egyptologist and former minister of antiquities, told the newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm that “this is completely false”. “Cleopatra was Greek, which means she had fair skin, not black,” he said.

Hawass noted that the only rulers of Egypt known to be black were the Kushite kings of the 25th Dynasty (747-656 BC).

“Netflix is ​​trying to create confusion by spreading false and misleading facts that the origins of Egyptian civilization are black,” he added, calling on Egyptians to oppose the internet giant. stream.

Lawyer Mahmoud al Semary filed a complaint with a prosecutor on Sunday demanding that he take “necessary legal action” and block access to Netflix services in Egypt.

It alleged that the series contains imagery and content that violates Egyptian media laws and accused Netflix of “promoting Afrocentric thinking (…) which contains slogans and writings designed to distort and erase Egyptian identity “.

Three years ago, plans for a Cleopatra movie starring Israeli actress Gal Gadot sparked a heated debate on social media, with some insisting the role should go to an Arab or African actress.

Gadot later defended the casting decision. “We were looking for a Macedonian actress to match Cleopatra. He didn’t show up and I was really excited about Cleopatra.”