A new Netflix series has ignited backlash after portraying Queen Cleopatra as a Black woman.
An Egyptian lawyer sued the streamer, accusing the company of trying to “erase the Egyptian identity,” the BBC reported.
Mahmoud al-Semary filed the suit Sunday, shortly after Netflix released a trailer for the upcoming documentary “Queen Cleopatra,” which depicts the ruler as a Black woman.
Al-Semary launched the legal complaint with the country’s public prosecutor, calling for Netflix to be shut down in Egypt and for the show’s creators to be penalized.
“Most of what Netflix platform displays do not conform to Islamic and societal values and principles, especially Egyptian ones,” Al-Semary said in his complaint, according to Egypt Independent.
The series stars British actor Adele James as the iconic monarch.
Last week, the 37-year-old thwarted criticism on Twitter, telling naysayers if they “don’t like the casting don’t watch the show.”
Jada Pinkett Smith, an executive producer on the show, recently explained the controversial depiction on Netflix’s promotional website Tudum.
“We don’t often get to see or hear stories about Black queens, and that was really important for me, as well as for my daughter, and just for my community to be able to know those stories because there are tons of them!” the actor and talk show host said.
However, some historians argue that Cleopatra was likely not Black — though others have said it would be hard to know for sure, given that the queen’s race was “unlikely to be documented.”
“Given that Cleopatra represents herself as an Egyptian, it seems strange to insist on depicting her as wholly European,” said Sally Ann Ashton, an Egyptology expert who Netflix said was interviewed in the series.
She added: “Cleopatra ruled in Egypt long before the Arab settlement in North Africa. If the maternal side of her family were indigenous women, they would’ve been African, and this should be reflected in contemporary representations of Cleopatra.”
Al-Semary’s lawsuit also accuses Netflix of trying to “promote the Afrocentric thinking … which includes slogans and writings aimed at distorting and erasing the Egyptian identity,” BBC reported.
Netflix did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
Queen Cleopatra, the last ruler of the Ptolemaic dynasty, was born in 69 BC and died in 30 BC.
She was famously portrayed in films by Elizabeth Taylor in the 1963 historical drama “Cleopatra” and Vivien Leigh in 1945’s “Caesar and Cleopatra.”
The outrage over Netflix’s production comes three years after Israeli actor Gal Gadot came under fire for nearly starring as the queen.
After people contended the role should go to an Egyptian actor, Gadot tried to defend her casting, insisting that she was slated for the role because they couldn’t find a Macedonian actor who “could fit Cleopatra.”
“We were looking for a Macedonian actress that could fit Cleopatra. She wasn’t there, and I was very passionate about Cleopatra,” she told BBC in December 2020.
“Queen Cleopatra” is set to debut on Netflix May 10.
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