Netflix stirs controversy with 'Queen Cleopatra' documentary trailer

OTT platform Netflix came under criticism for showing the final Egyptian ruler Queen Cleopatra as a black woman in the trailer of her upcoming documentary.

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The trailer of Netflix’s upcoming project ‘Queen Cleopatra‘ showed Hollywood actor Will Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith playing the queen. Social media users stated that she had no black connection and was of Greek origin.

Moreover, an online petition calling for the show’s cancellation has been making rounds.

It stated, “She [Cleopatra] awas born in Alexanderia, Egypt, in the Ptolemaic dynasty to Greek descent. She was NOT black. This is in no way against black people, and is simply a wake-up call to preserve the history and the integrity of the Egyptians and the Greeks.”

It is pertinent to mention that Queen Cleopatra was the Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt and was it’s last. She was the descendant of the founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty and Macedonian Greek general Ptolemy I Soter.

Koine Greek was her native language and was the only one who knew the Egyptian language. Moreover, she was an ally of Alexander the Great.

It is pertinent to mention that there have been studies conducted on Queen Cleopatra’s race. Experts have said that identifying her race is complex.

It is to be noted that a BBC hinted that she might be of North African race.

They came up with the hypothesis after examining the headless skeleton of a female child in a 20 BCE tomb in Ephesus, together with old notes and photographs of the now-missing skull, which is said to be the half-sister of Cleopatra Arsinoe IV.