Adele James, star of Netflix's Queen Cleopatra, responds to backlash over her casting in the role of the titular monarch. Queen Cleopatra is a Netflix docudrama that premiered on May 10, following the Egyptian queen over her 21-year rule from 51 BC to 30 BC. The series was accused of "Blackwashing" by casting a Black woman as Cleopatra, with an Egyptian governmental agency, the Supreme Council Of Antiquities (SCA), even going so far as to denounce the casting as being "a blatant historical fallacy."
In an interview with The Wayne Ayers Podcast, James responds to the Blackwashing claims, saying that Queen Cleopatra has been thoroughly researched, and that Cleopatra's race is still a big question among experts. James also condemns the show's backlash, saying that Blackwashing isn't a real issue, and that people often feel the need to separate Egypt as a country from the rest of the African continent. Read James' full response below:
Well, firstly, Blackwashing isn't a thing, is it? So there's that. I just think, you know, it's really sad to me the extent to which people want to - and it's not just Egyptians, and it's not all Egyptians - but people want to colonize and remove... and it's just upsetting, I find it sad that people are either so self-loathing or so threatened by Blackness that they feel the need to do that, to separate Egypt from the rest of the continent. You know, I think it's even more important that with telling this story the way that we are because actually, we don't know, it's a really big question mark, was she mixed race, was she not? She wasn't Black, we know that, but she might have been part Black, absolutely. That's absolutely within the realm of possibility based on the academic research. So, you know, if people don't want to engage with that, that research, that expert research, that's not really a me problem, that's kind of a them problem.
Queen Cleopatra actor Adele James on her Regal Throne
James' casting in Queen Cleopatra has been defended by director Tina Gharavi, who said that because Cleopatra's race isn't definitively known, James was cast in order to portray Cleopatra's beauty and strength. Gharavi cited the HBO series Rome, which depicted Cleopatra as a "sleazy, dissipated drug addict," saying that there wasn't a backlash against that portrayal, but when Queen Cleopatra cast a Black woman, there was suddenly massive controversy.
Meanwhile, the SCA has said that their criticism of the show has nothing to do with "ethnic racism," but rather accurate depictions of important figures in Egypt's history. The SCA stated that Cleopatra VII "had light skin and Hellenistic (Greek) features," with a "drawn nose and thin lips." They claim that Queen Cleopatra's casting of James is entirely inaccurate, and that the Netflix show is falsifying Egyptian history.
While a petition was signed by over ten thousand people to cancel Queen Cleopatra, Netflix defended the series, citing many experts on Egyptian history who have claimed the historical figure was mixed-race. The Netflix series isn't the first depiction of Cleopatra to garner backlash, as an upcoming Gal Gadot-led biopic has conversely been accused of whitewashing. With the upcoming Cleopatra film already drawing attention, the backlash against Queen Cleopatra won't be the last that audiences hear about casting the Egyptian queen.
More photos below.
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