Featured Image Credit: Netflix
Topics: Entertainment, Film and TV, Netflix, Jada Pinkett Smith
Ella Scott
Topics: Entertainment, Film and TV, Netflix, Jada Pinkett Smith
The new teaser for Netflix’s latest documentary series Queen Cleopatra has quickly become one of the streaming service’s most disliked trailers ever.
The new docudrama from Netflix, African Queens: Queen Cleopatra is already turning heads and causing controversy across social media.
The backlash across YouTube in particular has been so strong, that the streaming giant has had to take drastic action.
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If you haven’t already seen the Queen Cleopatra trailer, catch it here:
The forthcoming TV show has been produced by Jada Pinkett Smith, who said she was keen on the series as 'we don’t often get to see or hear stories about Black queens.'
It is set to follow Egypt’s final pharaoh, Cleopatra, as she fights for her right to the throne, her family, and her lasting legacy.
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British actor, Adele James, has been cast in the titular role, while Craig Russell is set to play her lover, Mark Anthony. Pinkett Smith also appears as well as having executive producer credits.
The trailer dropped online via Netflix last week (12 April), 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.”
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Following the release of the teaser that chronicles Cleopatra’s life, there’s been uproar across social regarding the protagonist being depicted as a Black woman.
Common historical records state that Cleopatra is recorded to have originated from Macedonian Greek heritage.
“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,” History.com says.
Regarding the casting decision, James took to Twitter to share her opinion.
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Following the backlash from the trailer - seen by 2.1 million people on YouTube and rising - Netflix has turned off the ability to comment.
The streaming service has also removed and hidden the number of ‘dislikes’ that the video has been given.
While we’re unsure how many people have thumbed down now, we do know that last time we checked, a whopping 263,000 people had disliked it.
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This crazy statistic makes it one of Netflix’s worst-rated and most-disliked trailers, ever.
However, it does come short of the Harry and Meghan trailer, which when released in December 2022, was given the thumbs down by more than 400,000 YouTube users.
At the time of the release, it was said that Netflix has actually disabled the dislike button on the documentaries trailer. It is available to both like and dislike now though.