The Egyptian broadcaster makes his own doc with the fair-skinned Cleopatra

An Egyptian state-owned media channel reacted to the casting of a black actress to play Cleopatra In the Netflix “African Queens” docudrama series, starting May 10, by announcing the production of the big-budget Cleopatra doc.

The fact that Briton Adele James, who is of mixed heritage, played the first-century Egyptian ruler as a queen with African roots in Jada Pinkett Smith’s Netflix original created a sensation in Egypt. Since the trailer dropped last month, local academics and others have claimed that Cleopatra, who was born in the Egyptian city of Alexandria in 69 BC and belonged to a Greek-speaking family, was of European, not black, ancestry.

In response to what they claim is Netflix’s falsification of Egypt’s history, Al-Wathiqia TV – a subsidiary of Egypt’s state company United Media Services – has announced the start of production on a developing doc about the true story of Queen Cleopatra, which it claims in a statement is based on “extreme levels” search and accuracy.

Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, the government agency responsible for heritage, complained on Twitter that “the statues of Queen Cleopatra confirm that she has Hellenistic (Greek) features characterized by fair skin, an elongated nose and thin lips.”

Famous comedian Bassem Youssef, in a recent TV interview with British journalist Piers Morgan, accused Netflix of trying to “take over our Egyptian culture”. An Egyptian lawyer has filed a complaint demanding legal action to block Netflix streaming in Egypt, although that hasn’t happened – at least not yet.

“Why do some people need Cleopatra to be white?” display manager Tina Graffy, wrote an opinion piece Defending the casting in Variety Online last month. “Maybe not only did I direct a series that portrayed Cleopatra as black, but I asked Egyptians to see themselves as Africans, and they are mad at me for it.”

Netflix has repeatedly declined to comment.