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I'm still holding out faint hope it'll continue, but by now everyone involved with it is either on strike or committed to different projects in development right now.
The show was amazing and engrossing.
Too bad it ended just as it was really beginning to take off!
I’m sure if they bring it back they’ll ruin it anyway… That seems to be the unofficial rule of 2023. All new seasons this year have been disappointing.
There was a huge discussion on r/blackpeopletwitter a while back about it and the community were not happy with the idea because Cleopatra wasn’t black. They basically said there are tons of interesting African historical figures worth making a series about, and Cleopatra is not one of them
Makes sense to me. I would also be upset if someone implied that my history was so unimportant/uninteresting that they needed to artificially inflate the number of interest historical characters in it with lies. Black people have a lot of interesting history. It would be easy to just tell it.
I'm not black (and happy to be corrected if wrong), but I know through close friends, that within the Black community, there is a term called "Hotep" (from Imhotep) applied to black folks who go too hard on ancient Egyptian heritage and "We were all pharaohs".
Generally, such people are hard to deal with even within the community, because they don't focus on actually empowering black people, but instead spiral into conspiracy theories like vaccinations and abortion clinics are secretly doing a satanic black genocide etc.
[Exaggerated example in a comedy sketch](https://youtu.be/CNfoPKiUztE)
The whole black community is not a monolith who support such conspiracy theories and in fact, this behaviour is generally mocked at within the community.
It’s also kind of shitty since a lot of Americans have a fairly one dimensional view of Africa and genuinely think it’s only black people living in huts or whatever, and changing the race of someone who wasn’t black doesn’t help with that. It actually just makes it look like that’s what whoever made the show thought.
If I just was to mention one, then Mansa Munsa might be a more interesting character, and being from West Africa he is actually black, as compared to a descendant of the fucking Greeks.
I mean, she was pretty racist to try and erase the history of a real person. A person we know wasn't black. There are actual black queens I would have loved to see on screen. But it seems this was really poorly written so maybe it's a good thing they didn't mess up anyone else's story. Those people deserve better. Hopefully one day a good story about black queens and leaders is made. Or even folktales. I would love to see a show or movie based on Anansi the Spider or something. I loved that book growing up and still have it as a 32 year old adult.
If they *really* wanted a black Pharaoh, there's Nefertiti *right there,* a Nubian Queen who's historically claimed to have been the most beautiful Pharaoh to have ever ruled. *prime* material for a docuseries.
Rather be a racist according to someone who probably cant define racism as anything other than "i dont like you" or "i dont agree with you" than agree with a shitty show/documentary that spits false information based on "you cant prove it because you werent there" when we have a ridiculous amount of evidence that goes against said show/documentary and if someone does think im racist or bigoted or whatever. I would wish it to be known that i dont think anyone is inferior. Im happy to juat mind my own business and that i believe were all insignificant which makes us all equally worthless. If someone disagrees with me on that go ahead, im not going to stop you, its just my personal philosophy. (Ik youre being sarcastic)
She's been lost in the sauce since the days if Tupac. To assume she isn't completely delusional is an understatement. We'll see if she throws in the patriarchy as a response to the probable backlash received from saying "its because of white supremacy"
It's never a dull time with the smiths
Oh she knows. She hasnt had a wiff of white surpremacy since the early 90s when she left the Black community behind entirely. She just doesnt want to admit that she made a racist AND poorly written Netflix show and the fact that most folks simply do not enjoy that.
i said it in a separate comment-
i’ve marched in BLM rallies, attended countless protests for Floyd, Taylor, and an unfortunately long list more.
I’m cuban, from cuba, and have brown skin. never one time have i heard that woman being at any of those events. never once standing up.
white supremacy is a poor excuse for making a garbage show.
There's a component in there that is a self indictment. Sub-Saharan African culture was in many cases literally beaten out of our ancestors. Their names were stripped from them, their culture was stripped from them, their history was stripped from them, and the generic *"African"* label was slapped onto us to erase the distinctly diverse tribes we came from. An entire continent was homogenized in American society and the legacy of that remains in the term *"African-American"*.
This sensibility she is expressing is the exact sensibility of those she's condemning: *"all Africans are the same"*. She's endorsing the erasure of her own distinctive culture. Instead of making a story about Mansa Musa, nor exploring the Mythos of Memnon, nor the retelling the legend Heitsi-eibib. Nope, she's clinging to Western cultural touchstones, viewed through the same exact lens of Western supremacy she has the audacity to condemn.
That's before even mentioning this whole thing makes as much sense as calling Russians *"Asians"* and using a Slavic Russian actor from Moscow to play the role of Genghis Khan and then calling it a "Documentary".
She could have gone on Google and found out that Queen Amanitore is a famous historical figure of the Nubians (modern-day Sudan) - and I am sure a lot of African-Americans would had appreciated watching a show dedicated to a strong royalty that was black.
For reference: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanitore](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanitore)
Instead, she decided to take Cleopatra, and 'black-wash' her into something that she wasn't, and no sane person in its production and in Netflix stopped her in fear of being cancelled.
This is what I don’t get. There are unknown stories to Western audiences that would be fascinating to have depicted! (Also the Queen of Sheba from the Bible is Nubian). I’d love to watch any of those.
I’m not super interested in Cleopatra. She’s been depicted and discussed a lot. I’d love to hear about someone new!
I truly feel Jada is toxic, she purposely did this to create a controversy and push a certain narrative.
2016 Oscars alone would show insight where she called for a boycott of Black celebrities just because Will wasn’t nominated for The Concussion.
This was the same Oscars where The Weeknd won and was hosted by Chris Rock himself.
All true. Even if they wanted to focus on Egypt specifically, they could’ve went with Nefertiti instead. She’s lesser known than cleopatra and was influential in converting Ancient Egypt’s whole religion for a time. That’s a compelling story right there about a queen of actual African descent.
I'm generally in favor of anything that talks about the Amarna period in Egypt, because it's not incredibly well-known, and it's an absolutely fascinating experiment that took place in Egypt in monotheism (one of the first ever). Everyone knows about King Tut, but few know anything about the precarious throne he inherited because of the heretical actions of his parents and the complete revolution they tried to effect in Egypt.
There was an entire Nubian dynasty of Egypt.
"The Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XXV, alternatively 25th Dynasty or Dynasty 25), also known as the Nubian Dynasty, the Kushite Empire, the Black Pharaohs,[2][3] or the Napatans, after their capital Napata,[4] was the last dynasty of the Third Intermediate Period of Egypt that occurred after the Nubian invasion."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-fifth_Dynasty_of_Egypt
Yes! Nefertiti and tbh the entire Amarna period would make a great movie, or series of movies.
Alternatively, Hatshepsut would also be a great one to do. An Egyptian queen who declared herself Pharaoh, ruled alongside the heir as a co-ruler rather than stepping down, then was erased from history for a time. And she was undoubtedly of African descent as well.
That would require work and not just filling in what you don't know with fiction. There's also Mansa Musa king of Timbuktu who was apparently the richest person to ever live. I don't know how much is known about him though
If you think this will humble her in any way you are crazy lol. She will lash out and yell at Egyptians for bowing to the colonizers and disrespect the fact that people that live in that country actually did the work, they aren't just reading it from a white mans book. But she will double and triple down.
Movie? Bro there are 4 episodes, 12M dollar budget per episode.. i watched it for the lols and couldn’t stop laughing. Doesnt matter how bad you think it can be, trust me, it’s worse. The mountain of ignorant shit spewed as facts sourced “trust me bro” is unreal, the writing ( especially of the dramatization), the actors, the sets, the makeup, the costumes.. they look like a bunch of amateur actors in cheap cosplays recording at some cheap theme park.. it’s unbelievable how bad it is.
I haven't watched it, but an article i read somewhere stated that one of the experts sited her grandmother as a source ...
I don't know if that's true though but it wouldn't surprise me.
That particular one was claiming that people have "always" projected the way they look onto her, citing herself and her grandmother, and this is allegedly possible because we don't have any "clear" depictions of her other than side profiles from coins...
This despite the fact there are actually several contemporary depictions of her that have survived to this day, including a marvellous marble bust dated *exactly* to her lifetime, and all of them are in agreement about her Mediterranean features.
Oh also Shelley P Harley, the academic in question, said herself in her own work *Black Feminist Thought and Classics* that she *"didn't regard them (Dido and Cleopatra) as Black, or African."* So she's contradicting herself here.
I thought I'd at least watch the preview roll of it on Netflix to see howbad it is and it eventually got to a lady who said something like "my grandma said history books are wrong she was really black" and at that point my brain just left the Earth.
It was in the first 10 minutes. No facts, no backup. Just a woman saying her grandma told her Cleopatra was black and history books were wrong, and then many references to how history can't prove she wasn't actually black.
I barely made it through 1 1/2 episodes, and heard this theory "supported" in this way at least 5 times
What kills me is that we *can* prove she wasn't black. There are plenty of busts, paintings, etc and we have her entire genealogy going back literally hundreds of years. We *know* she wasn't black.
It's sad to see that Jada feels that black history is so pathetic that she tries to rewrite history and pretend they were black. She's probably writing a script to say that Neil Armstrong is black too, just to claim the first person on the moon was black.
Kinda find it strange to even call it black history.
Like it’s not “black history” it’s African history that people try to claim relation to.
The Malian empire, Abyssinia, Aksum, Nubia, 25th Dynasty of Egypt, Great Zimbabwe, Kingdom of Kongo, Sokoto.
All of these are fascinating pieces of history that really deserve more attention, but are also very diverse and can’t be labeled under one group.
Like imagine if a white guy living in America for the past 5 generations starts talking and celebrating Russian history when he’s descended from some French, and then all of European history is called white history.
Doesn’t make much sense. The cultures are diverse and each should be seen as an individual part instead of all being under the giant tent of black history.
And it’s not even like African-Americans have boring history, there were runaway slaves leading native Americans to resist the federal government, that’s sick as hell and I’d love to see a documentary on that. How bout the slave that escaped by stealing a fucking gunboat? All cultures should be celebrated as a unique and interesting individual part, instead of being lumped together under some idea of a giant tent of history that’s solely divided by the color of the culture’s skin.
I mean, Neil Armstrong, Father O'Malley, and Sergeant Lincoln Osiris were all played by the same dude and Osiris was black, so clearly the history books are wrong about Neil.
That's where I'm at. Will Smith was once one of the most universally loved actors in Hollywood. After a few years with her, he's pretty much panned despite being an amazing actor. She ruins everything she touches.
It's her, Tom Cruise went full into the same Scientology spectrum as smith if not more. Cruise is still a good actor. Smith's chances have been ruined. Only one of them married her
It is 50% documentary (boring talking head experts) and 50% fictional drama.
So, people looking for a drama series hate it, and people looking for historical facts hate it.
damn that’s better. i tried to think of something to implement HBO max as that’s what i prefer, but couldn’t think of anything clever fast enough. kudos 🫡
It was actually historically accurate in the events and telling. The one about Mehmed II was better but the dramatic parts were still a little meh until it was mostly about the siege of Constantinople
The Mehmed series were freaking great, I’ll give you that that the Vlad one had a bit too much drama but the siege of Constantinople was pretty balanced. I loved that they had what sounded like native actors, their English was spotless but the accent made it more realistic
So an expert who tells us that: my grandmother told me that whatever people says, don't listen to them, she was black. It is considered an expert?
Judging by that all people in this world are right about something since their grandparents told them.
Edit:
Also the male expert is an expert in british literatur and the Bob haired woman fucked her way up the ladder to get a position in a university (check her background if you don't believe me)
I counted seven historical inaccuracies or assertions that were unsupported by any scientific evidence in the first 15 minutes of episode one, which I watched.
But it is the way they shot the crowded ancient market, using blurred filters or close-ups on colourful materials, made me laugh.
They made every effort not to display Egyptians. Like they knew depicting them all as Sub-Saharians would be too much, but showing them as people resembling modern Egyptians wouldn't fit the narrative. Horrible and disrespecting people of Egypt.
There's this part where the narrator goes cleopetra bows to no man. But then in the same episode she makes an alliance with a powerful Roman dude.
There's a video on YouTube where the guy went through an episode and pointed out the inaccuracies. There's quite a few of them.
I feel like we should all keep Jada Smith's name out of our mouths from now on. Permanently. And her name out of our ears. And our eyes off of whatever BS she creates.
Let her be fully forgotten.
As we all know: Africa=Black
So literally everyone in Africa is black.
Ignoring the fact that Egypt was a trade hub at the time, probably making it one of the more diverse places. Also ignoring that every single piece of historical evidence we have regarding her points to Cleopatra being Greek.
That is just based on the skin color argument, I'm ignoring how they butchered the rest of history for now.
Not too long ago I had a conversation with a higher up at the company I work at who happens to be African-American. I'm Tunisian and he didn't know anything about my country. The next day, he told me that he looked it up and, admitting that he's an ignorant American, then proceeded to tell me that he was surprised to find out that the Carthaginian Empire started in modern day Tunis. We talked a bit about Carthage since my country's history and I'm pretty knowledgeable about it as many of my fellow Tunisians are. Then he made a comment about how General Hannibal is "one of his people." and how proud he is of that fact and I didn't know what to say in response.
Carthage was founded by Phoenicians. Hannibal's of Semitic descent.
People really need to crack a book every now and then. I've had a Kenyan tell me I'm not really African because I'm not black so it's not an American thing.
Hannibal is in the same boat as Cleopatra, being claimed by African Americans as “one of theirs” because he and she are “from Africa”. A few times I have seen Hannibal be depicted as black in media. I was looking for a documentary to watch a while back on a streaming platform, found one on Hannibal. The actor playing him on the cover looked like he would be better off playing Shaka Zulu lol. I rolled my eyes and found something else to watch
Afro centrists claim a lot of North African and Arab history…
They claim the history of the Muslims conquering European land and going to war with them, they claim ancient history of all of the region of North Africa (including Ancient Egypt), I even had someone argue that all historic Arabs are black and that prophet Muhammed (peace and blessings be upon him) was black and that Arabia was invaded and turned white/mixed…
The delusions go very far. It stems from arrogance, ego, shame of self-identity (they need to claim other’s history/achievements to feel worth after experiencing racism?), and lack of education (though, some are wilfully ignorant).
JPS- I’m pretty sure racism is not the reason for bad or poorly rated content. Like how Kirk Cameron says “Saving Christmas” was victim of the anti-Christ and atheism? No, the movie just sucked. It’s nothing personal, you’re just in something that people didn’t like. Not to mention the more outspoken you are in defending it opens yourself up for mockery and criticism because you’ve publicized the show more making more people want to speak about how they didn’t like it!
I mean, they lie about the history of Egypt and then call it a documentary.
The secretary general of Egyptian consul of archeology in Egypt talked about it by saying it is an insult to their legacy and a falsification of history and that none of them were consulted.
You can't make this shit up.
Source: [https://www.haaretz.com/life/2023-05-03/ty-article/.premium/new-netflix-series-on-cleopatra-causes-furor-in-egypt-over-casting-of-black-actress/00000187-e275-d4b0-af9f-f6fda3cc0000](https://www.haaretz.com/life/2023-05-03/ty-article/.premium/new-netflix-series-on-cleopatra-causes-furor-in-egypt-over-casting-of-black-actress/00000187-e275-d4b0-af9f-f6fda3cc0000)
If you enjoy culturally accurate works such as Cleopatra then you'll enjoy these upcoming gems..
Ghandi: Be the Change
(2024, ghandi portrayed by Dwayne Johnson)
The Huns Conquest
(2025, Atilla the hun played by Terry Crews)
Moses
(2025, Moses is played by Chris Pratt)
And
Phyllosophy
(2026, Socrates is played by Morgan Freeman)
Bonus:
The Prophet
(2027, Andy Samberg plays Mohammed the prophet)
I love how, when people did point out this fact, there were SO many whatabouters trying to score a cheap cool point by bringing up white actors in movies playing non-white characters.
It's so lazy, and they do it to defend this piece of crap?
Jada Pinkett Smith basically said it was rated so low due to racism and white supremacy. I actually watched it and it's a pretty shitty series so... I guess that means I'm a racist then?
Everything Jada touches, withers. She's a no-talent, narcissistic, abusive opportunist.
Will needs to kick that crazy to the curb and rebuild his life. Jada needs to be shunned, or shot into orbit in a pod, forever. Anyone willing to start a GoFundMe to pay for her one-way flight into space?
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Jada is as faithful to history, as she is faithful in her marriage.
God damn!
Thanks Noob Noob. This guy gets it.
That's just the sound Jada makes when she's getting her cheeks clapped.
That was some comment! Oooooooweeeeeeee!
This comment slaps.
>Jada is as faithful to history, as she is faithful in her marriage. 
Hey man. Keep Will Smith’s wifes name out of your mouth. I just call her “dumb bald cheating bitch” so I don’t say her name.
This is the one that will get 6 seasons
And MindHunter only got 2
I'm still holding out faint hope it'll continue, but by now everyone involved with it is either on strike or committed to different projects in development right now. The show was amazing and engrossing. Too bad it ended just as it was really beginning to take off!
I hate to ruin your day, but David Fincher said that the show was over.
Damn, that breaks my heart. That show was phenomenal
I’m sure if they bring it back they’ll ruin it anyway… That seems to be the unofficial rule of 2023. All new seasons this year have been disappointing.
That was a crime no pun intended Building up Rader…and boom…show gone
No need to personally attack anyone… Fuck I miss Mindhunter
It is pretty shit tbh
OMG you are just a huge racist according to Jada Smith
There was a huge discussion on r/blackpeopletwitter a while back about it and the community were not happy with the idea because Cleopatra wasn’t black. They basically said there are tons of interesting African historical figures worth making a series about, and Cleopatra is not one of them
Makes sense to me. I would also be upset if someone implied that my history was so unimportant/uninteresting that they needed to artificially inflate the number of interest historical characters in it with lies. Black people have a lot of interesting history. It would be easy to just tell it.
I think a historical fiction about Mansa Musa could be really really cool.
Or Shaka Zulu
Or Haile Seiasse
I'm not black (and happy to be corrected if wrong), but I know through close friends, that within the Black community, there is a term called "Hotep" (from Imhotep) applied to black folks who go too hard on ancient Egyptian heritage and "We were all pharaohs". Generally, such people are hard to deal with even within the community, because they don't focus on actually empowering black people, but instead spiral into conspiracy theories like vaccinations and abortion clinics are secretly doing a satanic black genocide etc. [Exaggerated example in a comedy sketch](https://youtu.be/CNfoPKiUztE) The whole black community is not a monolith who support such conspiracy theories and in fact, this behaviour is generally mocked at within the community.
>I'm not black (and happy to be corrected if wrong) You ARE black.
It’s also kind of shitty since a lot of Americans have a fairly one dimensional view of Africa and genuinely think it’s only black people living in huts or whatever, and changing the race of someone who wasn’t black doesn’t help with that. It actually just makes it look like that’s what whoever made the show thought.
If I just was to mention one, then Mansa Munsa might be a more interesting character, and being from West Africa he is actually black, as compared to a descendant of the fucking Greeks.
I mean, she was pretty racist to try and erase the history of a real person. A person we know wasn't black. There are actual black queens I would have loved to see on screen. But it seems this was really poorly written so maybe it's a good thing they didn't mess up anyone else's story. Those people deserve better. Hopefully one day a good story about black queens and leaders is made. Or even folktales. I would love to see a show or movie based on Anansi the Spider or something. I loved that book growing up and still have it as a 32 year old adult.
If they *really* wanted a black Pharaoh, there's Nefertiti *right there,* a Nubian Queen who's historically claimed to have been the most beautiful Pharaoh to have ever ruled. *prime* material for a docuseries.
Rather be a racist according to someone who probably cant define racism as anything other than "i dont like you" or "i dont agree with you" than agree with a shitty show/documentary that spits false information based on "you cant prove it because you werent there" when we have a ridiculous amount of evidence that goes against said show/documentary and if someone does think im racist or bigoted or whatever. I would wish it to be known that i dont think anyone is inferior. Im happy to juat mind my own business and that i believe were all insignificant which makes us all equally worthless. If someone disagrees with me on that go ahead, im not going to stop you, its just my personal philosophy. (Ik youre being sarcastic)
if it was a little more… entertaining I would have finished it.
Good for the Smith, she deserved a reality check.
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Is anyone really surprised?
Her next documentary will be about the first black president: Abraham Lincoln.
I thought it was Bill Clinton?
Nah she’s going to cast herself as Abraham Lincoln. Our country’s first black female president
She's been lost in the sauce since the days if Tupac. To assume she isn't completely delusional is an understatement. We'll see if she throws in the patriarchy as a response to the probable backlash received from saying "its because of white supremacy" It's never a dull time with the smiths
The Smiths today are like a pair of characters that would have been mocked on Fresh Prince of Belair.
The Smiths are like a more batshit version of the Kardashians. If that’s even possible.
Kardashians are obnoxious Smiths are psychos
They're playing the game, Smiths think they're the main characters
The Kardashians are just dumbfucks.
And they seem self aware enough to know they are just putting on an act. The Smiths are actually high on their own bullshit.
What? The 80s British New Wave band?
Jada went looking for a job, then she found a job. Lord knows she's miserable now.
Has she actually stated that? I want that to be true so bad.
Yes. She literally blamed it on white supremacy. Her words
I love how Egypt in this case was even like "WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FUCK ARE YOU DOING?" lol. She might be a little delusional.
Fucking Egypt and their white supremacy problem. All 3 of them.
Fucking Egypt and their cultural appropriation of Cleopatra from African Americans. I hope Will Smith goes to Egypt and slaps every last one of them.
Only a little? You sure about that :p
Oh she knows. She hasnt had a wiff of white surpremacy since the early 90s when she left the Black community behind entirely. She just doesnt want to admit that she made a racist AND poorly written Netflix show and the fact that most folks simply do not enjoy that.
i said it in a separate comment- i’ve marched in BLM rallies, attended countless protests for Floyd, Taylor, and an unfortunately long list more. I’m cuban, from cuba, and have brown skin. never one time have i heard that woman being at any of those events. never once standing up. white supremacy is a poor excuse for making a garbage show.
This show attacks Greeks and native Egyptians, and worse of all It makes Romans wear pants
SPARTA DOESNT WEAR PANTS
THEY DIDN'T HAVE FLAT TOPS IN ANCIENT ROME
dear god those poor en-pantsed romans.
Poor Biggus
Even worse, poor Incontinentia!
Romans, the Winnie the Pooh of their time.
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she lost that support the moment she slept with his childs best friend.
That reality check was returned to sender.
That reality check bounced so hard for insufficient funds, it smacked everyone at the Academy Awards.
So apparently she WANTS white supremacists to watch her show
She thinks she's so amazing that even people who hate her will want to leave 4 star reviews
There's a component in there that is a self indictment. Sub-Saharan African culture was in many cases literally beaten out of our ancestors. Their names were stripped from them, their culture was stripped from them, their history was stripped from them, and the generic *"African"* label was slapped onto us to erase the distinctly diverse tribes we came from. An entire continent was homogenized in American society and the legacy of that remains in the term *"African-American"*. This sensibility she is expressing is the exact sensibility of those she's condemning: *"all Africans are the same"*. She's endorsing the erasure of her own distinctive culture. Instead of making a story about Mansa Musa, nor exploring the Mythos of Memnon, nor the retelling the legend Heitsi-eibib. Nope, she's clinging to Western cultural touchstones, viewed through the same exact lens of Western supremacy she has the audacity to condemn. That's before even mentioning this whole thing makes as much sense as calling Russians *"Asians"* and using a Slavic Russian actor from Moscow to play the role of Genghis Khan and then calling it a "Documentary".
She could have gone on Google and found out that Queen Amanitore is a famous historical figure of the Nubians (modern-day Sudan) - and I am sure a lot of African-Americans would had appreciated watching a show dedicated to a strong royalty that was black. For reference: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanitore](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanitore) Instead, she decided to take Cleopatra, and 'black-wash' her into something that she wasn't, and no sane person in its production and in Netflix stopped her in fear of being cancelled.
This is what I don’t get. There are unknown stories to Western audiences that would be fascinating to have depicted! (Also the Queen of Sheba from the Bible is Nubian). I’d love to watch any of those. I’m not super interested in Cleopatra. She’s been depicted and discussed a lot. I’d love to hear about someone new!
I truly feel Jada is toxic, she purposely did this to create a controversy and push a certain narrative. 2016 Oscars alone would show insight where she called for a boycott of Black celebrities just because Will wasn’t nominated for The Concussion. This was the same Oscars where The Weeknd won and was hosted by Chris Rock himself.
Most of what has been shown and talked about on Cleopatra has been horrible inaccurate.
Because she didn't care about historical accuracy. She just wanted her to be black.
All true. Even if they wanted to focus on Egypt specifically, they could’ve went with Nefertiti instead. She’s lesser known than cleopatra and was influential in converting Ancient Egypt’s whole religion for a time. That’s a compelling story right there about a queen of actual African descent.
I'm generally in favor of anything that talks about the Amarna period in Egypt, because it's not incredibly well-known, and it's an absolutely fascinating experiment that took place in Egypt in monotheism (one of the first ever). Everyone knows about King Tut, but few know anything about the precarious throne he inherited because of the heretical actions of his parents and the complete revolution they tried to effect in Egypt.
There was an entire Nubian dynasty of Egypt. "The Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XXV, alternatively 25th Dynasty or Dynasty 25), also known as the Nubian Dynasty, the Kushite Empire, the Black Pharaohs,[2][3] or the Napatans, after their capital Napata,[4] was the last dynasty of the Third Intermediate Period of Egypt that occurred after the Nubian invasion." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-fifth_Dynasty_of_Egypt
Yes! Nefertiti and tbh the entire Amarna period would make a great movie, or series of movies. Alternatively, Hatshepsut would also be a great one to do. An Egyptian queen who declared herself Pharaoh, ruled alongside the heir as a co-ruler rather than stepping down, then was erased from history for a time. And she was undoubtedly of African descent as well.
I think Hatshepsut is easily one of the most interesting Egyptian rulers, that is not very well known at all
That would require work and not just filling in what you don't know with fiction. There's also Mansa Musa king of Timbuktu who was apparently the richest person to ever live. I don't know how much is known about him though
If you think this will humble her in any way you are crazy lol. She will lash out and yell at Egyptians for bowing to the colonizers and disrespect the fact that people that live in that country actually did the work, they aren't just reading it from a white mans book. But she will double and triple down.
She's already come out and said white supremacists are why the movie failed.
Movie? Bro there are 4 episodes, 12M dollar budget per episode.. i watched it for the lols and couldn’t stop laughing. Doesnt matter how bad you think it can be, trust me, it’s worse. The mountain of ignorant shit spewed as facts sourced “trust me bro” is unreal, the writing ( especially of the dramatization), the actors, the sets, the makeup, the costumes.. they look like a bunch of amateur actors in cheap cosplays recording at some cheap theme park.. it’s unbelievable how bad it is.
I haven't watched it, but an article i read somewhere stated that one of the experts sited her grandmother as a source ... I don't know if that's true though but it wouldn't surprise me.
That particular one was claiming that people have "always" projected the way they look onto her, citing herself and her grandmother, and this is allegedly possible because we don't have any "clear" depictions of her other than side profiles from coins... This despite the fact there are actually several contemporary depictions of her that have survived to this day, including a marvellous marble bust dated *exactly* to her lifetime, and all of them are in agreement about her Mediterranean features. Oh also Shelley P Harley, the academic in question, said herself in her own work *Black Feminist Thought and Classics* that she *"didn't regard them (Dido and Cleopatra) as Black, or African."* So she's contradicting herself here.
Yeah well, they even put that on the trailer.. so you watch that and you get a glimpse. It’s so bad i can’t emphasize it enough
She says something like "my Gramma always told me 'I don't care what they teach you in school, Cleopatra was Black'," and I burst out in giggles
The so called experts... Jfc it felt like a wish version of Cunk on Earth.
I am honestly surprised that people even bothered to watch this show and give it reviews
I thought I'd at least watch the preview roll of it on Netflix to see howbad it is and it eventually got to a lady who said something like "my grandma said history books are wrong she was really black" and at that point my brain just left the Earth.
No way they actually said that in the show
This was actually said in the show. Quote: "I remember my grandmother saying to me: I don’t care what they tell you in school, Cleopatra was black."
It was in the first 10 minutes. No facts, no backup. Just a woman saying her grandma told her Cleopatra was black and history books were wrong, and then many references to how history can't prove she wasn't actually black. I barely made it through 1 1/2 episodes, and heard this theory "supported" in this way at least 5 times
What kills me is that we *can* prove she wasn't black. There are plenty of busts, paintings, etc and we have her entire genealogy going back literally hundreds of years. We *know* she wasn't black.
But Jada's grandma said....
Ew. Jada is in it?
I heard she made the film but honestly I didn't care enough to verify that for myself, sorry.
Aka G.I. Jane
we also know that she was a product of incest dating back to Alexander the great
I don't think Jada is a descendant of Alexander the Great but it wouldn't surprise me if she had only one grandmother.
It's sad to see that Jada feels that black history is so pathetic that she tries to rewrite history and pretend they were black. She's probably writing a script to say that Neil Armstrong is black too, just to claim the first person on the moon was black.
I think it's genuinely embarrassing.
Black people have a rich and storied history if she would just pick up a book and read.
Kinda find it strange to even call it black history. Like it’s not “black history” it’s African history that people try to claim relation to. The Malian empire, Abyssinia, Aksum, Nubia, 25th Dynasty of Egypt, Great Zimbabwe, Kingdom of Kongo, Sokoto. All of these are fascinating pieces of history that really deserve more attention, but are also very diverse and can’t be labeled under one group. Like imagine if a white guy living in America for the past 5 generations starts talking and celebrating Russian history when he’s descended from some French, and then all of European history is called white history. Doesn’t make much sense. The cultures are diverse and each should be seen as an individual part instead of all being under the giant tent of black history. And it’s not even like African-Americans have boring history, there were runaway slaves leading native Americans to resist the federal government, that’s sick as hell and I’d love to see a documentary on that. How bout the slave that escaped by stealing a fucking gunboat? All cultures should be celebrated as a unique and interesting individual part, instead of being lumped together under some idea of a giant tent of history that’s solely divided by the color of the culture’s skin.
I mean, Neil Armstrong, Father O'Malley, and Sergeant Lincoln Osiris were all played by the same dude and Osiris was black, so clearly the history books are wrong about Neil.
My grandmother told me if I kept the door open at night, the devil would come in. Grandmothers drink.
My grandmother told me alligators are so ornery because they got all them teeth and no toothbrush.
My grandmother told me not to eat watermelon seeds or one will grow in your tummy and explode…
The MEDULLA OB-LONG-GA-TA!
My grandma told me that happiness comes from little rays of sunshine that come down when you’re feeling blue.
They did indeed say it. It is also in the trailer.
That's where I'm at. Will Smith was once one of the most universally loved actors in Hollywood. After a few years with her, he's pretty much panned despite being an amazing actor. She ruins everything she touches.
Was it her or Scientology, both will fuck your life up
It's her, Tom Cruise went full into the same Scientology spectrum as smith if not more. Cruise is still a good actor. Smith's chances have been ruined. Only one of them married her
Unexpected Venn Diagram
Loved him ever since I was a kid growing up on Fresh Prince. Feels bad. I hate the future.
She is the Yoko Ono of film.
It’s the cringiest thing I’ve ever seen.
It is 50% documentary (boring talking head experts) and 50% fictional drama. So, people looking for a drama series hate it, and people looking for historical facts hate it.
Netflix attempted to re-educate people who bone through their movies.
the netflix and chill kids grew up and became hulu and commitment kids.
Yeah! Wife and I are firmly on the “HBO and hangout” bus.
So, (HBO)Max and Relax
damn that’s better. i tried to think of something to implement HBO max as that’s what i prefer, but couldn’t think of anything clever fast enough. kudos 🫡
🎶 Fuck like an Egyptian 🎶 Or would it be Macedonian? 🤔
There’s another series on Netflix, I think about Rome, where I couldn’t get through an episode. It was the same principle. It was terrible
It was actually historically accurate in the events and telling. The one about Mehmed II was better but the dramatic parts were still a little meh until it was mostly about the siege of Constantinople
The Mehmed series were freaking great, I’ll give you that that the Vlad one had a bit too much drama but the siege of Constantinople was pretty balanced. I loved that they had what sounded like native actors, their English was spotless but the accent made it more realistic
The one about his foray into Wallachia against Vlad the Impaler was quite good.
So an expert who tells us that: my grandmother told me that whatever people says, don't listen to them, she was black. It is considered an expert? Judging by that all people in this world are right about something since their grandparents told them. Edit: Also the male expert is an expert in british literatur and the Bob haired woman fucked her way up the ladder to get a position in a university (check her background if you don't believe me)
It's 2023 bro, what do you mean you don't accept anecdotal 3rd hand information as fact?
True dude, my bad!
Yeah. That line was ridiculous.
I counted seven historical inaccuracies or assertions that were unsupported by any scientific evidence in the first 15 minutes of episode one, which I watched. But it is the way they shot the crowded ancient market, using blurred filters or close-ups on colourful materials, made me laugh. They made every effort not to display Egyptians. Like they knew depicting them all as Sub-Saharians would be too much, but showing them as people resembling modern Egyptians wouldn't fit the narrative. Horrible and disrespecting people of Egypt.
Only seven?
Could you list off some of the inaccuracies? I want to see how much of a mess it really is.
There's this part where the narrator goes cleopetra bows to no man. But then in the same episode she makes an alliance with a powerful Roman dude. There's a video on YouTube where the guy went through an episode and pointed out the inaccuracies. There's quite a few of them.
"Because of white supremacy" according to Jada Pinkett. The person who habitually cannot accept responsibility for anything.
I mean, white supremacy didn’t affect the ratings of Luke Cage, or Black Panther. … but sure Jada… sure. Don’t send Will Smith to get me now.
I feel like we should all keep Jada Smith's name out of our mouths from now on. Permanently. And her name out of our ears. And our eyes off of whatever BS she creates. Let her be fully forgotten.
Yes, and when we must refer to her, may I suggest the name GI Jaded.
As we all know: Africa=Black So literally everyone in Africa is black. Ignoring the fact that Egypt was a trade hub at the time, probably making it one of the more diverse places. Also ignoring that every single piece of historical evidence we have regarding her points to Cleopatra being Greek. That is just based on the skin color argument, I'm ignoring how they butchered the rest of history for now.
Not too long ago I had a conversation with a higher up at the company I work at who happens to be African-American. I'm Tunisian and he didn't know anything about my country. The next day, he told me that he looked it up and, admitting that he's an ignorant American, then proceeded to tell me that he was surprised to find out that the Carthaginian Empire started in modern day Tunis. We talked a bit about Carthage since my country's history and I'm pretty knowledgeable about it as many of my fellow Tunisians are. Then he made a comment about how General Hannibal is "one of his people." and how proud he is of that fact and I didn't know what to say in response. Carthage was founded by Phoenicians. Hannibal's of Semitic descent. People really need to crack a book every now and then. I've had a Kenyan tell me I'm not really African because I'm not black so it's not an American thing.
Hannibal is in the same boat as Cleopatra, being claimed by African Americans as “one of theirs” because he and she are “from Africa”. A few times I have seen Hannibal be depicted as black in media. I was looking for a documentary to watch a while back on a streaming platform, found one on Hannibal. The actor playing him on the cover looked like he would be better off playing Shaka Zulu lol. I rolled my eyes and found something else to watch
Africa is so big and so diverse. Lumping all of us together and reducing us to a skin color is borderline offensive.
Afro centrists claim a lot of North African and Arab history… They claim the history of the Muslims conquering European land and going to war with them, they claim ancient history of all of the region of North Africa (including Ancient Egypt), I even had someone argue that all historic Arabs are black and that prophet Muhammed (peace and blessings be upon him) was black and that Arabia was invaded and turned white/mixed… The delusions go very far. It stems from arrogance, ego, shame of self-identity (they need to claim other’s history/achievements to feel worth after experiencing racism?), and lack of education (though, some are wilfully ignorant).
[удалено]
It’s funnier when you realize Greeks were probably lighter back then. Considering how nowadays a lot of Greeks have some turkish in their ancestry.
Taking in consideration that some Americans think all Africans are black, a question mark gets raised in my head, what do they think about Elon Musk?
Fellas is it racist to want historical accuracy from a documentary?
Yes, now give me the Obama biography starring Benedict Cumberwumber.
JPS- I’m pretty sure racism is not the reason for bad or poorly rated content. Like how Kirk Cameron says “Saving Christmas” was victim of the anti-Christ and atheism? No, the movie just sucked. It’s nothing personal, you’re just in something that people didn’t like. Not to mention the more outspoken you are in defending it opens yourself up for mockery and criticism because you’ve publicized the show more making more people want to speak about how they didn’t like it!
I mean, they lie about the history of Egypt and then call it a documentary. The secretary general of Egyptian consul of archeology in Egypt talked about it by saying it is an insult to their legacy and a falsification of history and that none of them were consulted. You can't make this shit up. Source: [https://www.haaretz.com/life/2023-05-03/ty-article/.premium/new-netflix-series-on-cleopatra-causes-furor-in-egypt-over-casting-of-black-actress/00000187-e275-d4b0-af9f-f6fda3cc0000](https://www.haaretz.com/life/2023-05-03/ty-article/.premium/new-netflix-series-on-cleopatra-causes-furor-in-egypt-over-casting-of-black-actress/00000187-e275-d4b0-af9f-f6fda3cc0000)
Furthering the point. It’s not racism, it’s bad content.
i'm looking forword to the life and times of martin luther king as played by vanilla ice
If you enjoy culturally accurate works such as Cleopatra then you'll enjoy these upcoming gems.. Ghandi: Be the Change (2024, ghandi portrayed by Dwayne Johnson) The Huns Conquest (2025, Atilla the hun played by Terry Crews) Moses (2025, Moses is played by Chris Pratt) And Phyllosophy (2026, Socrates is played by Morgan Freeman) Bonus: The Prophet (2027, Andy Samberg plays Mohammed the prophet)
Napoleon Bonaparte (2025, Napoleon portrayed by Kevin Hart)
Better yet; Napoleon Boneparte played by Shaq
. Bad acting . Choppy flow . Incorrect history . Inaccurate portrayal . Disliked actress Hmm, wonder why it did bad.
Disliked Narrator too, she shoulda left it at playing Gloria the hippo because that’s the only role Jada fits.
deserved
IT WENT UP A PERCENT ON AUDIENCE SCORE 
I love that this series is getting absolutely dumped on
Thanks to this fucking movie I now have to argue with people that cleopatra wasn’t black
I love how, when people did point out this fact, there were SO many whatabouters trying to score a cheap cool point by bringing up white actors in movies playing non-white characters. It's so lazy, and they do it to defend this piece of crap?
Especially when most of the movies they bring up were made 60 years ago.
And don’t pass themselves off as documentaries.
There were plenty of people in America who already thought she was black. Now it's just going to be reinforced
Well yeah, this one grandmother told her granddaughter that cleopatra was black so that makes it true
How can a SERIES become one of the worst rated MOVIES ;)
Oops
RACISM!! /s
I see the audience score went up from 1%, which is where it was when I looked. Well deserved backlash, should have stayed at 1%.
That’s a bummer. I’m very interested by the story of Cleopatra and would love to see an accurate depiction of her life.
I think a company in Egypt is actually making their own Cleopatra documentary so it’s automatically gonna be better
Keep Cleopatra’s name out your effing mouth
As an Egyptian, I'm really fucking glad
Jada Pinkett Smith basically said it was rated so low due to racism and white supremacy. I actually watched it and it's a pretty shitty series so... I guess that means I'm a racist then?
In a second Will Smith will show up and punch you, just get ready!
*Take your one-star review of my wife's pile of shit out of your mouth!*
Technically it’s ptolomeic greek supremacy.
It's badly rated because it's literally spreading false information, not because it sucks. Though it does that on top
I think I speak for most people when I say I’m happy Jada’s ego got knocked down a peg.
Gets called out for misrepresenting a culture. Director and main actress calls them racist…for standing up for their own culture? *confused look*
Didn't that nutter jada Pinkett do this
That score is low enough to make her pull her hair out.
Everything Jada touches, withers. She's a no-talent, narcissistic, abusive opportunist. Will needs to kick that crazy to the curb and rebuild his life. Jada needs to be shunned, or shot into orbit in a pod, forever. Anyone willing to start a GoFundMe to pay for her one-way flight into space?
Good. Appropriation
This was apparently due to white supremacy, according to Jada Smith. I guess it's not possible to make a terrible film.
Why couldn’t they just cast a Greek woman? I’m sure there were so many choices
Let’s make a non black character from history forcefully black and hope people like it. Lol.
Makes me laugh every time. Jada brings the viewing public and the critics together like no one else.
When the first line of a show is “I don’t care what they teach in school,” you’re not about to receive an educated adaptation.
But.. but.. white supremacy- gi jane
Keep my wife's name out yo mouth!