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In the past couple of years, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith have become two of the most controversial celebrities in Hollywood. The actor tarnished his image by slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars 2022 and his wife for publicly talking about her extramarital affair with August Alsina, her son’s friend. Now, it seems that Jada has again landed herself in trouble for producing upcoming docudrama series on Netflix, African Queens: Queen Cleopatra.
Casting has become a sensitive topic in all entertainment industries as people expect inclusivity and representation of all races, colours, ethnicities, orientations, identities and more. Gone are those days when a casting director could star cis-gendered actors to play gay or trans characters without getting backlash. People expect authentic representation on-screen, and probably that’s why they’re debating Cleopatra being played by Adele James, a mixed-race woman, in the new series produced by Jada. Scroll on to learn more.
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Recently, Gal Gadot received flak online when it was announced that she would play Cleopatra in the Queen’s biopic. People were not happy with an Israeli star playing the role. Now, with Jada Pinkett Smith producing Queen Cleopatra with Adele James in the leading role, some people have accused Netflix of blackwashing the character. According to BBC, Egyptologist Zahi Hawass, has called it a ‘completely fake’ portrayal of the Queen and said the makers are “trying to provoke confusion by spreading false and deceptive facts that the origin of the Egyptian civilization is black. Cleopatra was Greek, meaning that she was light-skinned, not black.”
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As per BBC, while talking about her show, Jada Pinkett Smith said, “We don’t often get to see or hear stories about black queens, and that was really important for me, as well as for my daughter, and just for my community to be able to know those stories because there are tons of them!”
Cleopatra was born in Alexandria, Egypt, in 69 BC and succeeded her father Ptolemy XII, in 51 BC. She died in 30 BC, and post her death, the Romans ruled the city. As per historians, the Queen’s mother’s identity is unknown, and it could be possible that she was from some other part of Africa.
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