Netflix’s ‘Cleopatra’ Director Defends Casting: ‘Why Do Some People Need Cleopatra to Be White?’

The director of Netflix’s Queen Cleopatra docudrama series is defending the casting of a black actress as the Egyptian queen, who was not black, calling her decision a “political act.”

“Why shouldn’t Cleopatra be a melanated sister? And why do some people need Cleopatra to be white?” director Tina Gharavi wrote in an essay {snip}

Queen Cleopatra, which begins streaming May 10, is drawing mounting criticism over its casting, especially in Egypt where the show is being denounced as revisionist history. As Breitbart News reported, the criticism has become so intense that the streamer turned off comments on social media posts showing the trailer for the series.
The four-part series, which is executive produced by Jada Pinkett-Smith, stars British actress Adele James as Queen Cleopatra, and features the actress sporting a full afro {snip}

{snip}

In her essay, Tina Gharavi blamed the attacks on Cleopatra on “misogynoir” — the woke term describing prejudice against black women.

{snip}

Gharavi appears to acknowledge that the real Cleopatra wasn’t black, but stops short of saying she was white.

“We can safely say Cleopatra was Egyptian,” she wrote {snip}

{snip}