Netflix Sued in Egypt for Casting Black Woman As Cleopatra

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An Egyptian lawyer, Mahmoud al-Semary, has taken legal action against streaming giant Netflix, over the portrayal of Cleopatra a Black woman in a new documentary. Netflix cast bi-racial British Actress Adele James to play Cleopatra.

Al-Semary has filed a lawsuit with a public prosecutor, seeking to ban Netflix in Egypt, alleging that the documentary distorted the country’s history in favor of promoting Afrocentrism.

“Most of what Netflix platform displays do not conform to Islamic and societal values and principles, especially Egyptian ones.”

In addition to al-Semary’s complaint, former Egyptian Antiquities Minister Zahi Hawass has criticized the casting decisions made for the documentary. Hawass stated publicly that the depiction of Cleopatra “is completely fake” adding that “Cleopatra was Greek, meaning that she was blonde, not Black.”

Hawass has accused Netflix of “trying to provoke confusion by spreading false and deceptive facts that the origin of the Egyptian civilization is black.”

Cleopatra was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, which was of Greek origin and ruled Egypt from 305 BC to 30 BC. Although there is some debate among scholars about the specific ethnicity of Cleopatra and other members of the Ptolemaic dynasty, it is generally accepted that they were of Greek and Macedonian descent.

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