“It’s fundamentally racist, all of it,” Adele James said on the Channel 4 show ‘Steph’s Packed Lunch’.
Egyptians in particular have rejected her casting in the docu-drama, which includes a historian making the assertion ‘I remember my grandmother saying to me: I don’t care what they tell you in school, Cleopatra was Black’ in the preview, which has drawn ire across the country, including threats of legal action.
Explaining the Cleopatra ‘Blackwashing’ scandal
So, why are Egyptians mad exactly? The Cleopatra documentary is only the first in a line of scandals relating to the issue, in which Black performers have been perceived to be co-opting Egyptian history, thereby erasing Egyptian identity and ethnic heritage.
Many historians have asserted that the country’s most famous queen was Greek-Macedonian. The new documentary asserts that, because of the questions over who her mother was or who her paternal grandfather was, that assertion is easier to call into question.
There was also huge backlash after Gal Gadot was cast as the queen earlier this decade, as well as white american actress Elizabeth Taylor’s famed portrayal from the 1963 film.
‘Blackwashing’ in Egypt: A history
Egyptians, however, are fed up, as this isn’t the first time they’ve felt erased. Internationally popular comedian Kevin Hart was forced to cancel his Egyptian dates earlier this year, after a wave of backlash over claims of perceived ‘afrocentrism’.
A clip went viral of Hart, stating: “We must teach our children the true history of Black Africans when they were kings in Egypt and not just the era of slavery that is cemented by education in America,” he was reported to have said in December, adding “Do you remember the time when we were kings?”
Hart’s reasoning for cancelling though, was stated to be ‘logistical issues.’
The comments in question stated the following:
“It is with a heavy heart that we share with you, due to local logistical issues, the cancellation of our Kevin Hart event scheduled for February 21st, in Cairo,” said the statement.
Hart went on to have successful dates across the rest of the Middle East that same tour with no controversy to speak of, signalling that this is an issue specifically in the North African country rather than the entire Arab world.
The country, of course, has one of the richest histories in the world, with the iconography of its history iconic across the globe, in every other culture on earth.
Adele James speaks out against Queen Cleopatra controversy
James, however, is having none of this, and was deeply wounded by the conversation that’s been happening.
“It would be naive of me to say that I didn’t expect anything at all, but I didn’t expect the scale of it,” James stated.
“And I think it’s distressing for anybody to receive any level of abuse, let alone the scale and the nature of what I’ve received, which is fundamentally racist, all of it,” she continued.
“People are talking about the wrong things. Yes, we don’t know where her mother was from or her paternal grandmother, but also the show is about so much more than the question mark over her race.”
“If you watch it is a very small part of the conversation really, this is about the fullness of who this woman was and she was a human being and she shouldn’t be reduced to her race any more than I should or anybody should.”
Co-star John Partridge stated that it’s an actor’s right to play outside their own particular identity.
“’We’re just actors at the end of the day, and sometimes our morality gets called into play, we’re jobbing actors.”
According to James, the person primarily involved in casting was Jada Pinkett-Smith, wife of Will Smith, who is the executive producer of the documentary series ‘African Queens’.
“She was so involved in the casting process, she watched all of our audition tapes, she was giving feedback on the rushes when we were out in Morocco shooting,” said James.
“Cleopatra was a fascinating woman and this doc reveals many details of her life I was not aware of. I hope you find it as educational as I have,” said Pinkett-Smith yesterday on her Instagram.
Other episodes of the African Queens documentary have centered around other figures from African history with no controversy surrounding them.
Egypt is making its own documentary now
A new doc is also in the works from the channel Al-Wathaeqya, who intend to produce a depiction of the life of the queen from what is stated to be the Egyptian perspective.
‘Preparations have begun to produce a documentary about Queen Cleopatra VII, daughter of Ptolemy XII, known as Cleopatra, the last king of the Ptolemaic family, that ruled Egypt in the wake of the death of Alexander the Great,” said a statement.
‘Based on what is always usual in all the work of the Documentary Production Sector and Wathaeqya Channel, there are work sessions currently being held with a number of specialists in history, archeology, and anthropology, in order to subject research related to the subject of the film and its image to the utmost levels of research and study.’
One thing is for certain, this conversation is not going anywhere, as it continues to be one of the most talked about issues in the region, in which everyone has their own opinion.
We’ll keep you posted on any new developments in this space.
In the mean time, check out some of the other reviews for the film. Yikes!
This feature was first published on Esquire Middle East.
