Cleopatra has become one of Netflix's most disliked trailers as fans fume over the upcoming docudrama and claim it's trying to "rewrite history"
African Queens: Queen Cleopatra is a new documentary drama which will drop onto Netflix on May 10, with fans completely up in arms about it.
With the trailer already causing an uproar among social media users, there has been a huge backlash on Twitter, as well as on YouTube.
The last time the dislikes were visible on the trailer which is on YouTube - before Netflix was forced to intervene - the video had a whopping 263,000 dislikes, with just 23,000 likes.
Netflix has now been forced to turn off comments, with them also making it impossible for anybody to see how many dislikes the video has garnered.
The docuseries, which sees Jada Pinkett Smith as executive producer, will depict Egypt’s final pharaoh, Cleopatra, as she fights for her right to the throne, her family, and her lasting legacy.
The trailer dropped last week (April 12), with a synopsis that reads: "Cleopatra’s heritage has been the subject of much academic debate, which has often been ignored by Hollywood.
"Now our series re-assesses this fascinating part of her story."
Since the trailer dropped, social media users have been vocal about their opinions on the main protagonist being depicted as a Black woman.
"I’m all for telling Black stories, but let’s focus on stories of actual Black people. Cleopatra was not Black, she was a white woman with Macedonian ancestry. Let’s get it together Netflix," penned one Twitter user.
Another added: "Netflix wrongly identifies Queen Cleopatra as black in yet another attempt to rewrite history's greats!"
While a third person angrily penned: "Stop stealing our history!! Shame on #Netflix."
And a fourth Twitter user went on to say: "Queen Cleopatra was of Greek origins; she was not black. I support black rights just like any other, but let's get the facts right."
Historical records state that Cleopatra is said to have originated from Macedonian Greek heritage.
History.com states: "Despite not being ethnically Egyptian, Cleopatra embraced many of her country’s ancient customs and was the first member of the Ptolemaic line to learn the Egyptian language."
This comes after a lawyer filed a complaint that accuses the upcoming series of violating media laws as well as aiming to "erase the Egyptian identity".
And despite archaeologist and former antiquities minister Zahi Hawass insisting to the al-Masry al-Youm newspaper: "Cleopatra was Greek, meaning that she was light-skinned, not Black... This (discussion) has absolutely no basis in truth," the producer of the docuseries said: "her [Cleopatra's] heritage is highly debated".
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