In the past few days, we have witnessed a massive attack on Netflix from Egyptians due to the release of a documentary series under the name “Queen Cleopatra”.
The online streaming platform is known to constantly stir controversy, especially among Egyptians as it promotes certain ideas such as LGBTQ, which is rejected by the Egyptian community.
This time, Egyptians couldn’t tolerate the idea of messing with “Egyptian History” as Netflix is now promoting the Afrocentrism movement or Afrocentric.
The attack on Netflix has gone beyond just comments and social media posts, we will tell you exactly what happened so far.
What Is Afrocentrism?
Afrocentrism or Afrocentric is a cultural and political movement that started in the 20s and 30s of the 20th century by African Americans; the movement sheds light on the identity and the contributions of African culture around the world.
According to Afrocentric, these contributions by the African culture include being part of our ancient history as the African Americans claim that their roots go back to Ancient Egypt and that the ancient Egyptian history originally belongs to them.
Here’s What Is Happening With Netflix
Almost 4 days ago, the online streaming platform announced a new documentary series under the name of “Queen Cleopatra” will be released on the 10th of May, the docuseries is part of another docuseries under the name “African Queens”.
The docuseries is produced and narrated by the actress Jada Pinkett Smith, wife of the actor Will Smith.
The docuseries sparked controversy and it angered Egyptians and Greeks for its falsification of Egyptian history.
Egyptians Defending Their History
Once the trailer was released, Egyptians have taken all social media platforms to attack Netflix and Jada accusing both of blackwashing our history. Almost all of Netflix’s Instagram posts have Egyptians stating that Queen Cleopatra was not black and they are demanding Netflix to cancel the series.
Egyptians also have created hashtags against Netflix to cancel the series.
نتفليكس ركبت "الموجة" بس الموضوع خبط في شخصية كليوباترا واللي هي أصولها يونانية ولدت في مصر! ودة قمة الكوميديا والهذي الممتزج مع العبث!
طبعاً نقاش موضوع "الموجة" ليس هذا وقته أو مكانه ومحتاج مساحة أخرى أكثر جدية لتحليل دوافعه وجذوره. pic.twitter.com/OmdM6LjWRJ
— Zakovich (@AhmedZaky) April 12, 2023
مفيش مؤسسة بتقدم محتوى فني أو إعلامي إلا وليها أجندة، وأجندات نتفليكس بقت معروفة وده شيء عادي بالنسبة لي، لكن البوستر ده بيقول إن الموضوع خرج من إطار تمرير الأجندة لمرحلة العبط الرسمي اللي بيضر الأجندة نفسها ويحولها لنكتة!
ايه الشيء المنطقي اللي يخليني كمشاهد أصدق إن كليوباترا… pic.twitter.com/tPbv9xhB0t
— Loay Alkhteeb (@LoayAlkhteeb) April 13, 2023
نتفليكس بتحاول بطريقة غير مباشرة تلعب علي التاريخ وتزوره وتقول ان كليوباترا الملكة المصرية كانت أفريقية البشرة علشان تساعد حركة الافارقة الامريكان اللي عايزين يقولو ان الحضارة المصرية القديمة حضارة افريقية من بشرة سمرا.. .. pic.twitter.com/4eNSOZPrZy
— بكيزة هانم (@AmlOkeil) April 12, 2023
Y'all are talking about how #Cleopatra was greek not Egyptian but no one is mentioning the fact that they #blackwashed #Egyptians too!! No one is talking about the fact that even if she was #Egyptian she wouldn't have been black either!! #cleopatranetflix #Netflix #blackwashing pic.twitter.com/9vggEEag6v
— Egyptian History Defenders 🇪🇬𓆎𓅓𓏏𓊖 (@EHD_Group) April 15, 2023
The theft of Egyptian history continues.
American revisionists decided that the Greek Egyptian Queen , #Cleopatra, was somehow Black!!!
Nothing wrong with being black— if it was the truth, but that is a big fat pathetic lie! https://t.co/d7pqltfFCr
— Nervana Mahmoud (@Nervana_1) April 12, 2023
لية موضوع الافروسنتريكس (المركزية الافريقية) مهم؟
الصهيونية بدأت بشوية كلام ومؤتمرات وانتهت بالشكل اللي احنا شايفينه. الافارقة شايفين اننا محتلين وانهم اصحاب الحضارة والارض وبدأوا بخطوات فعلية انهم يعملوا "فيلم وثائقي" عن حياة كليوباترا وكل الكاست افارقة! ياريت ندي الموضوع اهمية
— Pass (@Passantness) April 14, 2023
تخيل يا مؤمن كليوباترا ملكه مقدونيه الاصل من اليونان و نتفليكس مطلعاها سمراء لمجرد انهم بيدعموا الافروسنتريك ما بالك بقي ب باقي الافكار اللي نتفليكس بتضخها فعقول متفرجيها ؟
— Araby (@alaraby_s) April 15, 2023
Even though almost every Egyptian is angry with the blackwashing and falsification of our history, some actually see no problem with the docuseries and call those who oppose the series “Racist”.
Egyptians didn’t stop there, some have created memes to make fun of the docuseries idea.
The Greeks Are Angry Too
If you think Egyptians are the only ones angry about the docuseries, we would like to tell you that, they’re not. Many Greek people have also attacked Netflix for portraying Queen Cleopatra as a black woman when she was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty and was a descendant of its founder Ptolemy I Soter and a Macedonian Greek general and companion of Alexander the Great.
The Greeks have also taken to Twitter to oppose the docuseries and even official Greek platforms attacked Netflix.
QUEEN CLEOPATRA: Netflix adds the Greek Queen of Egypt to list of “blackwashed” historical figures https://t.co/Yc0Gtsu4AE#greece #greek #greekcitytimes pic.twitter.com/vNEB0cTezM
— Greek City Times (@greekcitytimes) April 13, 2023
Cleopatra was Greek! pic.twitter.com/Zhms7RF3lT
— sp³_Alchemist🇬🇷☦ (@AlchemistSp3) April 13, 2023
Cleopatra was NOT Black, she was the GREEK Queen of Egypt and is a beautiful connection between Greek and Egyptian civilisations.
Even worse, the CEO of @netflix is "Greek"-American Ted Sarandos. He's allowing a blackwashing of Greek history. https://t.co/VAsI43ocRv
— Paul Antonopoulos 🇬🇷🇨🇾 (@oulosP) April 13, 2023
Also, many non-Egyptians and Non-Greeks have opposed the docuseries and attacked the streaming service.
We can now add Cleopatra to the list of blackwashed figures of European history.
Yes, European. Cleopatra was descended from the Ptolemaic dynasty of Macedonian Greeks. She wasn’t even Egyptian, let alone sub-Saharan. pic.twitter.com/g7kTAB5eov
— Pox Populi (@PoxOnPop) April 12, 2023
For the nth time, the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra was not an Egyptian. She was Greek! Cleopatra VII was white—of Macedonian descent, likewise all the Ptolemy rulers, who lived in Egypt.
<Netflix is making a show about a “Black” Queen Cleopatra, who was Greek>pic.twitter.com/cJXEywpThX
— Kemi Owonibi (@KemiOwonibi) April 14, 2023
Cleopatra was a Macedonian Greek descendant, daughter of a Macedonian general who was an associate of Alexander. She spoke Koine Greek and learned the Egyptian language.
But, Jada Pinkett Smith & Netflix have decided to “blackwash” these facts in their ‘documentary’. pic.twitter.com/HIkRTCafpk
— Cold957 (@cold957) April 14, 2023
It Goes Beyond Than Just Comments And Posts
People created an online petition to cancel the docuseries and after it got thousands of signs, it was mysteriously deleted but another one was created.
Many Egyptians circulated a petition to cancel the series on Netflix but for an unknown reason it was removed, and not only Egyptians were signing the petition, Greeks were also doing the same.
https://t.co/PKgLCqIYfz Removes Petition to Stop Netflix's Queen Cleopatra https://t.co/g0WuhkaG7y#greece #greek #greekcitytimes pic.twitter.com/uK3yGyVRUV
— Greek City Times (@greekcitytimes) April 14, 2023
After the petition was deleted, another one was created and people are sharing it again to reach the same number of signatures.
Another thing people did to attack Netflix is reducing the rate of the application on Google Play to reach 1.2, while on Apple Store, the rate reached 2.5.
This is not the first time Egyptians stand against the Afrocentric movement, last year when it was announced that the actor/comedian Kevin Hart was coming to Egypt to do a standup comedy show, Egyptians protested and the show was canceled.
we are extremely proud of how Egyptians are defending ancient history and are standing strong against anyone who tries to rob us of our heritage.
