Every time I think I've found the dumbest comment in this thread, I scroll down one more line......

  • aaaaaaadjsf [he/him, comrade/them]
    ·
    1 year ago

    I mean it's very weird to use race blind casting for the purposes of doing hotep things to satisfy the producer of the series (Jada Pinkett Smith). And it's not like people from the middle east or north Africa are portrayed positively in most western media, they're most likely cast as terrorists in most shows and movies. On top of that Cleopatra wasn't even ethnically Egyptian or African.

    • Kuori [she/her]
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      i know almost nothing about jada pinkett smith and tbh i would prefer to keep it that way; celebrity gossip is not really my shit.

      And it’s not like people from the middle east or north Africa [etc]

      yes you're completely correct here, that said i think it's fair to say that they most likely wouldn't be hiring an actress from either of those places. they'd likely just have cast someone from wisconsin or whatever and called it a day

      On top of that Cleopatra wasn’t even ethnically Egyptian or African.

      :shrug-outta-hecks: i am perfectly aware of this but i simply do not care because the people throwing tantrums over it are all conveniently the dumbest people on the planet and making fun of them brings light into my life. however, i do agree with you entirely elsewhere in this thread, telling actual Black stories would be infinitely more interesting than Yet Another Roman Empire circlejerk

      e: hopefully this didn't come off as combative btw, that wasn't my intent

    • AlkaliMarxist
      ·
      1 year ago

      Is there any actual evidence that hotep ideology was involved in this decision?

      • aaaaaaadjsf [he/him, comrade/them]
        ·
        1 year ago

        Hoteps believe all of the people in ancient Egypt were black. Saying "I don't care what they told you in school, Cleopatra is black" (which the trailer of the show does) is hotep ideology 101.

        • AlkaliMarxist
          ·
          1 year ago

          I just watched the trailer and that's a bit of a stretch. It's literally a talking head quote where someone relays something their grandmother told them - hardly proof the show was made by hoteps. Even if it is though, saying that this is clearly because Plinkett-Smith is a hotep and she made it to push that ideology is just speculation.