{"id":35906,"date":"2023-05-15T12:42:56","date_gmt":"2023-05-15T08:42:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/me\/?post_type=articles&p=35906"},"modified":"2023-05-15T12:45:34","modified_gmt":"2023-05-15T08:45:34","slug":"queen-cleopatra-star-adele-james-blackwashing-racist","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/me\/articles\/queen-cleopatra-star-adele-james-blackwashing-racist\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Blackwashing\u2019 claims from Egypt are \u2018fundamentally racist\u2019 says Queen Cleopatra star Adele James"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"queen
Courtesy of Netflix<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fundamentally racist, all of it,\u201d Adele James said on the Channel 4 show \u2018Steph\u2019s Packed Lunch<\/a>\u2019.<\/p>\n

Egyptians in particular have rejected her casting in the docu-drama, which includes a historian making the assertion \u2018I remember my grandmother saying to me: I don\u2019t care what they tell you in school, Cleopatra was Black\u2019 in the preview, which has drawn ire across the country, including threats of legal action.<\/p>\n

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Explaining the Cleopatra \u2018Blackwashing\u2019 scandal<\/h2>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Many historians have asserted that the country\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

There was also huge backlash after Gal Gadot was cast as the queen earlier this decade, as well as white american actress Elizabeth Taylor\u2019s famed portrayal from the 1963 film.<\/p>\n

\u2018Blackwashing\u2019 in Egypt: A history<\/h2>\n

Egyptians, however, are fed up, as this isn\u2019t the first time they\u2019ve 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 \u2018afrocentrism\u2019.<\/p>\n

A clip went viral of Hart, stating: \u201cWe 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,\u201d he was reported to have said in December, adding \u201cDo you remember the time when we were kings?\u201d<\/p>\n

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Hart\u2019s reasoning for cancelling though, was stated to be \u2018logistical issues.\u2019<\/p>\n

The comments in question stated the following:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is with a heavy heart that we share with you, due to local logistical issues, the cancellation of our\u00a0Kevin Hart\u00a0event scheduled for February 21st, in Cairo,\u201d\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0the statement.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Adele James speaks out against Queen Cleopatra controversy<\/h2>\n

James, however, is having none of this, and was deeply wounded by the conversation that\u2019s been happening.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be naive of me to say that I didn\u2019t expect anything at all, but I didn\u2019t expect the scale of it,\u201d James\u00a0stated<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I think it\u2019s distressing for anybody to receive any level of abuse, let alone the scale and the nature of what I\u2019ve received, which is fundamentally racist, all of it,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are talking about the wrong things. Yes, we don\u2019t 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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A post shared by Jada Pinkett Smith (@jadapinkettsmith)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n