As someone who was born in Africa I find it so annoying that alot of Americans don't realize that we are very ethnically diverse. Also as someone who loves history truth matters. Don't call something a documentary when it looks more like a fiction
@@KimmminemWest are you being sarcastic? Or do you agree? I've never stepped foot outside of Country and I know more about what the rest of the world looks like and I would never assume to know something without finding out first
As an Egyptian, I am proud of Bassem Youssef's reply. Because he made it clear that we are not talking about skin color because skin color is not important. We are all human after all, and we take issue with the fact that history is being rigged for the sake of posterity.
@@samuelbaah7017You’re and idiot and all the credible evidence proves what you said to be WRONG. Modern Egyptians ARE the Ancient Egyptians! Even DNA testing of ancient Egyptian mummies have proven this!
Be strong and defend your ancestral history against these West African descended black American culture thieves looking to steal your history to boost their racial pride. You ARE the same people as the Ancient Egyptians and let it be known.
An Egyptian lawyer, Mahmoud al-Semary, already sued Netflix because of this Cleopatra was an ethnic Greek (Macedonian) with some Iranian (Persian & Sogdian) ancestry ▪︎ Her dinasty, the Ptolemaic, was very incestuous. ▪︎ You have brothers marrying sisters. ▪︎ The whole Ptolemaic dinasty is well documented. ------ Also, there's plenty of statues, busts and portraits from the time period. And also physical descriptions of her, made by the Romans. Common descriptions about her in Roman texts: ▪︎ about 5 feet tall ▪︎ Brown almond-shaped eyes ▪︎ Curly hair, worn in a ''melon' style (Greek hairstyle) ▪︎ Possibly a redhead, based on Roman frescoes of her ▪︎ wears a 'Diadem' of a Hellenistic ruler around her head ▪︎ Oval face with soft features, altough with an aquiline nose ▪︎ Pale olive skin ---- ▪︎ The only black rulers of Egypt were the 25th Dynasty, the Nubians/Kushites (from Kush, Sudan) ▪︎ Egypt has been ruled mostly by ethnic Egyptians. With a few exceptions like: ▪︎ 12nd and 13rd dinasties (''Meshwesh'', that were of Libyan origin) ▪︎ 15th dinasty ('Hyksos', who were 'West Semitic/Levantine') ▪︎ 25th Dynasty (Nubians / from Kush, Sudan) ▪︎ 26th Dinasty (Assyrian (modern-day Iraq)) ▪︎ 27th & 31st dinasties (Persian) ▪︎ And the last two dinasties ("Argead" and "Ptolemaic") were Greek (white)
@@MissAllWednesday depends on where you are. There was a mass immigration came to Egypt from the Levant and Mediterranean Sea and formed the people of the north, and that creates the majority of Egypt population. Then southern part potentially created by the amazigh and the arab immigration mixed with the nubians. So its a rainbow of colours cause not because you have a dark skin doesn't mean you can only live in the south, same goes to lighter skin
Cancel Culture guy: "there was no controversy when white person plaid Cleopatra" Egyptian guy: "That movie was banned in Egypt, what are you talking about?"
@@AQW0RIDS It was banned for both reasons. He clearly stated they wasn't happy about that movie and it was banned and then he added the Isreal support problem. Decisions can have multiple reasons.
@@AQW0RIDS And likely not many Egyptians complained about it, because due to the banning, it wasn't present in their nation. But the point was still made that back in that era, Hollywood was culturally insensitive, with make up to make people look Black, Asian, Hispanic, etc, and having Meditterainean or Jewish people to play Native Americans. That still doesn't justify people doing the same thing 50+ years later, when they are supposed to be more informed.
BASSEM IS 100% right. Yes, Elizabeth Taylor played Cleopatra during a time when Hollywood was grossly uninformed... but I would also add that during such a time actors still held some gravitas, and the name “Elizabeth Taylor” was definitely a box office draw. It would’ve been box office suicide to cast an unknown actor of Egyptian heritage for the sake of historical accuracy during that era. It should be far less of a challenge nowadays, but here we are.
Egyptian government also banned the Cleopatra movie because of Elizabeth Taylor's depiction. Even with White American actress playing Cleopatra in a romanticised fictional movie adaptation, Egypt said: "Stop that bullshit!"
@@americanwoman445 It's still not a match. Liz Taylor was from the UK and people from that region of Europe have their own distinct features that are different from Greek/Mediterranean features.
@@Browndrea Honestly there was nothing wrong with Liz Talor playing Cleopatra in my opinion. "Antone and Cleopatra" is a Shakespeare play, historical accuracy isn't a priority. The main problem for me is that This is a documentary, and out of all the rulers of Africa they chose Cleopatra, one of the most unambiguously white pharaohs, to make black.
Yes. I remember that her character betrayed the assassin protagonist who was loyal to the pharaoh. Even when the pharaoh became more loyal to Julius Caesar. That the Roman’s were swaying Egypt to their new order. Even finding out that Caesar allowed the Roman killer of their child to roam about.
The makers of Assassins Creed are very thorough and keep everything accurate. Perhaps Jada, the director, the cancel culture dude and Adele James need to play it
As an Egyptian i fully respect you and thank you for this video, I’m sick of African Americans telling me I’m an invader and that I don’t belong in my country, Africa has such a rich history and it’s just sad to see them neglect their history to steal others, Even Nubians and sudanis(which are the only black pharaohs) don’t claim Ancient Egypt as their own history, this is just sad
@@The_Truth- you’d be surprised of how many Americans say that, also search up “Copts” they are the only descendants of the Ancient Egyptians, which most Egyptians today are Arabized copts, meaning they changed language and religion, but not dna
@@Youssef-ws4py Already did research on Copts. They weren’t the original ancient Egyptians. Their language is derived from the Greek alphabet. Not Egyptians. So there is no surprise to that.
@@The_Truth- Germanic and Western Slavic people use the Latin alphabet, but aren't Romans. Heck Black Americans use it right here and now, are they Romans too? Writing Greek or Arabic script won't change your DNA, lol.
@@Alias_Anybody What DNA? The 2017 study that got debunked, that dna didn't even date back to the pre-dynasty or first-dynasty era? Let's use common sense. 155 mummies now all of a sudden represent an entire civilization, that doesn't even go back to the founded period. make that make sense, please? Ancient Egyptians are black Africans whose civilization was invaded multiple times. The walls don't lie, they drew themselves and the Africa then isn't the Africa now.
You are absolutely right: Most Black US-Americans have ancerstors from countries like Nigeria, Congo, Senegal, Angola, Cameroon, Ghana, Benin and so on. Not from Egypt. So a big "Thank you!" to all the Black US-Americans who are honest and truthfull. West Africa and Central Africa have a lot of cultures to be proud of.
Basically what happened was because whites stripped the slaves of their culture and they were trying to be proud of themselves, they tried to connect to anything glorious coming out of Africa and that included ancient mixed Egyptians. It's good to be proud of your ancestors, but if your ancestors are from West Africa, focus on that.
How long did Black people inhabitant West Africa? Africa was an all-black continent before the Eurasian, Caucasoid and Arab invaders conquered the Northern part of it forcing the Black indigenous population to migrate in mass numbers to West Africa and other parts of Africa. The Arabs living in Kemet today are nothing but imposter Egyptians who were originally from Asia. If they are the original Egyptians why don't they practice Ancient Egyptian culture and not Arabic Muslim culture?
Egypt was called " kemet" (the black land) because Egypt was well known for it's black fertile soil for agriculture along the banks of the Nile river then. Fertile soil is always black.
Correct. And the Egyptians called the desert Deshret, meaning red. So Egypt was called Kemet (black) because it was situated on the dark soil of the Nile banks surrounded by Deshret (red) desert. Egyptian Copts (Christian Egyptians) still have a version of the ancient Egyptian language used for liturgical use of the Coptic Church. Egyptian Copts often refer to themselves as “remenkimi” (a word to mean native Egyptian). All Egyptians are descendants of the ancient Egyptians with Egyptian Copts being the purest of descendants. This is supported by DNA test results of ancient Egyptian mummies in comparison to both Egyptian Copts and Muslim Egyptians.
@bastiat4855 Yes, correct. All Egyptians were Christians just before the muslim conquest of Egypt in the 7th century. So even the Muslim Egyptians are remenkimi (native Egyptian). It’s just the Egyptian Copts (Christian Egyptians) of today are the only ones to retain the only surviving version of the ancient Egyptian language and have the purest ancient Egyptian ancestry of all Egyptians.
BTW the Khemid thing with egypt has nothing to do with ethnicity or skin color, it reffers to the literally black 'land' as in the dirt, which was super fertile due to all the minerals being washed up from nile floods.
@@MrLboydReacts , not all black Americans believe Cleopatra was black but I agree the majority do. Too many of us lack a true understanding of history and geography. Unfortunately having black pride has been interwoven into Afrocentric beliefs with a good mix of conspiracy theories thrown in. 🤷🏽♀️
Exactly. And people are also dumb enough to think that in a continent predominated by black people, that they would refer to their land as the "land of the blacks," or "black land," when literally almost everyone is black so that wouldn't make sense lol People just like to live in delusion.
As an American I find it weird that a modern Egyptian is concerned with the depiction of a Macedonian. It to me is like Native Americans being offended by the depiction of white cowboys in a period piece. Also the genealogy of African Americans ancestry 10k years ago could actually place them in Egypt! And a modern Egyptian ancestry could be in Arabia 10k +years prior! They argue Depiction inaccuracies because Cleo was Macedonian but ignore the multiple invasions changing the genetic makeup of Modern Egyptians. A modern American and a Native American are clearly not the same ppl. So modern White American would sound crazy saying they built the pyramids in Mexico just because they live in the area now.
@@AliSalladin As Egyptians, we do not see Cleopatra as a queen of conquerors as much as we see her as part of Egyptian history, that history was melted down in this region from many races such as the Romans, Persians and Arabs, which made the genetic map of the Egyptian people diverse, but we have never heard of an ethnic cleansing of the Egyptians as happened in America for this Your example is wrong. We see Cleopatra like Muhammad Ali, the Egyptian king of Albanian origin, but he was one of the greatest kings of Egypt, and he was the one who built its strong army and Egypt expanded a lot during his reign. Muhammad Ali ruled Egypt and loved it, so he and his sons became very Egyptian in our eyes and in Egypt’s modern history.
It’s a really interesting phenomenon how a lot of US Americans (as well as Canadians) strongly define themselves based on their ancestry. Like there are people walking around in the US who has never set foot in Ireland, yet claim to be Irish. My Canadian friend once told me (a Norwegian) that he was basically a Norwegian himself. And like no, you’re not. Your great grandfather was a Norwegian, but you were not born in Norway, you have never lived in Norway, you don’t even speak the language. I mean my great grandfather was Finnish, but I would never claim to be part of Finnish culture. The whole thing is just very strange to me.
I once went to Ireland and Irish people said they were tired that some Americans claim they are Irish just because some great grand father was and they make fun of that. I'm Argentinian and my ancestors are from Spain, Italy and guess what? Ireland. And I didn't say anything about it, it's just non-sense, we are not our great grand-fathers and we should live with the identity that we own today. So you guys are Americans fine, but you see, it is really upsetting that we are from South America and we are not called Americans too, we are called "latins" why??? North America, Central America and South America.... we all are Americans. World would be better if we all accept this fact and stop separeting from each other basing on the skin colour. African people is african and then inside Africa there's a lot of different countries and cultures, but they are all Africans, same with Europeans... So what the hell is going on with America that we are not all Americans??? Just because United States doesn't want it, it is not fair.
this is what happens when you live in a country of immigrants. origin is great but you came their fore a reason to built a new one, so do it. youe own history starts when you move.
i just immediately get stuck on, how does it make you right to get the casting race wrong just because someone else got it wrong 100 years ago too? pointing at someone saying they got it wrong too doesn't make you right. its a documentary not a movie and should be accurate
I agree. My grandparents came from Norway. My biological mother was first generation American. I found out about my Norwegian heritage first through Ancestry, then by finding my biological family. I am not Norwegian, but I am of Norwegian descent. I am American. I don't go around claiming to be Norwegian-American, so hearing the hyphen between in regards to ancestry is a huge put-off to me. As was stated, unless you were born in the country, you can't claim to BE of that country. Only your ancestors are of that country. We need to stop this. Also, I'm with the man that is Egyptian. Why wasn't someone of Egyptian or Arab descent chosen to portray this role? They should have been if they are claiming that it's a documentary! Come on Hollywood! Get your crap together!
now you see we have the same problem here in LATAM with the americans that proclaim to be latinos. no, you are third gen born in america, have never stepped a foot outside of the us unless its vacation and refuse to properly learn the lenguage you are so "pride" of
Imagine how we feel about this as Egyptians, to say we are LIVID about this would be an understatement. And the Greek people too are equally livid about this. To hell with you Jada Smith and to hell with Netflix They crossed a line.
Same as when they did english queen anne bolyin as black historical figure white. Or a viking as black..wounder how scandernavians felt about that...its like they have to steaĺ other countries history...havent they got own history???
This is so crazy we literally have her genealogy written down. As well as portraits and sculptures of her. This isn't about playing Cleopatra in a movie, it's the fact that they're claiming this show is a documentary
Whilst its not perfect it tells an important story of an African Queen, how that people with darker skin (non-white) were once some of the most powerful people in the world and how it was from Africa that Europe got its power and wealth.
just because someone else got the math wrong doesn't make you right when you use it, feels like insanity that he can say its a good choice just because someone else a hundred years ago got it wrong too. this is such a loss for egyptian equality and they should be angry
I love the Mansa Musa reference. Too many people have no idea about him. He needs a movie and thats someone that people of West African Decent could definitely get behind instead of trying to take other cultures just because they are one the same continent.
@@yrretgnortsmra8955 People of West African descent in the USA (which is what this is all about, after all) wouldn't be too happy celebrating someone whose empire was built on selling slaves to Arab traders.
This whole issue is very America-centric. I am a European who studied history. When I tried to inform afro-centric afro-americans that no, Cleopatra VII was not black, we have her family tree, and by the way the ancient Egyptians were not black but copts, they served me afro-centric conspiracy theories that history books were all white washed; and when I pointed out that the afro-centric conspiracy theory is, well, a conspiracy theory, they told me to be ashamed to tell black people what to think since my ancestors had enslaved theirs. Excuse me, Finland was not even involved in the transatlantic slave trade. They don't seem to understand that they acted with the same attitude as white colonisers to the rest of the world.
I agree that Cleo was Greek, but because of her maternal lineage being a mystery. It is a high probability that she was mixed. But, I never understood why this era is the focus of Egyptians culture when the founders and creators of Egyptian culture are black Africans. Not invading Greeks.
@@The_Truth- Her maternal lineage is not likely to be black. In the very improbable event that she wasn't the daughter of Ptolemy XII and Cleopatra V, but of some concubine, it would still be probable to be either another family relation or some member of the Diadochi families (meaning Greek) as the Ptolemaic dynasty absolutely hated mixing. Certainly no royal who didn't have an absolutely acceptable bloodline and lineage by THEIR standards, i.e. being Macedonian Greek, would never first have considered suitable as wife for her own brother, and then later when she ousted her the same brother in a power struggle, suitable as queen herself. THEY would never have accepted a mixed bloodline. Not because of skin color, they didn't care about that (there were black people who were considered "Greek" because they culturally were Greek) but because for the royal dynasty, it was about keeping their own Macedonian bloodline as pure as possible. If not family, then they only married the other royal Macedonian lineages descended from Alexander's empire.
@@The_Truth- IDK what you think native "African" is, but even that can vary a great deal in appearance. And has since the beginning of time. Some peoples can be built very fine boned, and nowhere near as dark as West Africans typically are. And it has nothing to do with "invaders". The Berbers in the north of Africa are one of the 7 oldest tribes, going back 10,000 years, predating even the Masai (3000 yrs old). The oldest is in the south, the San tribe which is thought to be somewhere between 100-140,000 yrs old. Variance came naturally about due to the long history of human evolution, local climate differences over time, and other such factors. The same way humans evolved in different ways as they left Africa and adapted to their local climates.
"Kemet" (Dark or Black Land) was literally a reference to the dark color of the fertile mud deposits carried by the Nile, not to the color of the people. Ancient Egyptians used the term as opposition to "Desheret" (Red Land), a reference to the color of Desert lands farther away from the Nile's margins. In essence, "Kemet" was the fertile land near the Nile where most Egyptians lived, and "Desheret" were the arid lands of Lybia, Sinai and Arabia, scarcely inhabited by nomadic tribes.
Int the original video they're confusing names of Egypt and Ethiopia. Greek name for Ethiopia is Αἰθιοπία, which is like Burnt-face-ia, if translated word by word literally.
@@shaunisler2120 We studied their remains, dear. We have their BODIES. You can say that having hundreds and hundreds of mummies. Some were dark, some were light skin. That's all.
@@shaunisler2120 Wrong, you can see in many painted murals that Egyptians depicted themselves differently from the Nubians. Egyptians depict themselves as fair skinned (painted as yellow or red) with semitic facial traits (middle eastern caucasoids) and depicted the Nubians as dark skinned (painted black) with negroid facial traits. For example there is a mural in Seti's I Tomb representing the different emissaries sent by the various neighboring Kingdoms tributary to Seti, between those emissaries there is a Nubian which is completely black, there's a Lybian and a Canaanite with pale yellow skin and there's an Egyptian with red skin.
FOR THE LAST TIME YES HER DAD WAS GREEK THIS IS NOT THE POINT! ITS NOT DOCUMENTED WHAT ETHNICITY HER GRANDMOTHER OR MOTHER WAS BECAUSE HER GRANDMOTHER WAS A CONCUBINE! THERES SCIENTIFIC PROOF THAT HER MOTHER WAS MIXED WITH NATIVE AFRICAN. THIS IS PROBABLY WHY THERES NO RECORDED DATA BUT THE BODY OF CLEOPATRA SISTER ( ARSINOE ) & MOTHER SKULL SAYS MIXED NATIVE AFRICAN. GO TAKE THIS UP WITH THE EUROPEAN SCIENCE ___________ Cleopatra's mother 'was African' Cleopatra, the last Egyptian Pharaoh, renowned for her beauty, was part African, says a BBC team which believes it has found her sister's tomb. Queen Cleopatra was a descendant of Ptolemy, the Macedonian general who ruled Egypt after Alexander the Great. But remains of the queen's sister Princess Arsinoe, found in Ephesus, Turkey, indicate that her mother had an "African" skeleton. Experts have described the results as "a real sensation." The discovery was made by Hilke Thuer of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. "It is unique in the life of an archaeologist to find the tomb and the skeleton of a member of Ptolemaic dynasty," she said. They were real people and not the semi-mythical figures portrayed by Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor Archaeologist Neil Oliver "That Arsinoe had an African mother is a real sensation which leads to a new insight on Cleopatra's family and the relationship of the sisters Cleopatra and Arsinoe.
This reminds me of when Night at the Museum introduced the Egyptian Pharoah and people were upset that Rami Malek was cast in the role because "he wasn't Egyptian"... even though he was Egyptian. And it was because he was 'whiter' than people assumed Pharoah's would be.
@@The_Truth-some look like him and some are darker because it’s about the king was from lower or middle or apper Egypt but most of them look tan brown skin and Egyptian most are tan skin but some are darker and some are lighter and ramy he us coptic so he from old Egypt blood
@@Ahmed-h7y7i Egyptians are a dark brown skin people, the culture is African and we can find cultural continuity in Africa today. Prime example the hairstyles, burial practices, traditions. There is a reason why their hair come are distinct to African people and not the foreigners of the north. The majority of the artwork shows dark brown people. The original Egyptians didn’t to tan, Coptics are not the original Egyptians.
@@The_Truth- Egyptian now and then mostly look tan skin because of the place of Egypt and hair style are a lot in this time even and it’s not about color but the first Egyptian are northern African not black but they’re dark Egyptian and white but most are lighter than brown people and darker than white but western African have great history
I love that you said African Americans is just American. It is a divisive way to refer to black Americans as African Americans in reference to their colour. In addition, it directly excluded any light skinned or white North African or Africans in general. Being white does not mean European and being African does not mean only black.
@@LloydsofRochester I think musks ancestors where colonials. But I'm not sure. Nevertheless, I think the argument here was that people leaving for thousands of years in Afruca are not necesseraly black. Just as Russians, Chinese, Indians and many more are actually Asians. Or germans, french and spanish people are european. Spanish people are not usually white.
@@danielhopkins2277 Hmm, you have a point. I actually meant it neutrall, but failed to recognize the negative connotations of colonial. Settler is more appropiate I guess?
Well hypocritical Arabs i Egypt didn’t care whenthe other 99 perventof non Greek and non Egyptian actors 0ayed cleaptra prior since they were ere WHITE🙄! Soo…
Welcome to the club. Americans have been stealing and twisting European stories and cultures for a while now. Swapping even historical figures for black people.
As you say, West Africans have their own rich, extensive culture. It would be nice if filmmakers would explore those stories and keep historical documentaries of other countries true to history.
@@christinecastro7212 that is so true, I was in Ghana for a bit, and I walked through the Elmina castle, and learned about a very interesting past that unfortunately revolved around the slavetrade, but we don't have a lot of documentaries that adress these things. There is so much there that is so valuable in its potential to educate people about erased cultures, buildings and how their names became portugese and then dutch, so much happened in these places and we just act like that is not important. Imagine, an act in history that lasted 400 years has less impact in our history lessons than the second world war that masted 30 years. No one needs to point fingers or dig in old wounds, but maybe this understanding would create the space for people to just talk about this past.
@@corneliahanimann2173 I absolutely agree, so much history that could help us get a better world view on our past. Maybe with such education we could address those wounds and with open and honest discussion about the past we could try to heal them and stop looking backward and start looking forward. We learn so little about so much of world history it distorts our understanding of the facts. I agree we focus on such narrow aspects of history. Just what happens in Europe and North America like nothing else had any impact and isn’t important.
@@christinecastro7212 EXACTLY! There is so much content out there for documentaries, there are buildings, books, art, just very literal history. We could make a doc even just about the portugese era or the pastors that went there and slaughtered people that didn't convert to christianity. It's just disrespectful how there is a part in history where white people for 400 years were the bad guy and chose to make a profit from selling people. Many of the black cultures are all ready and open to forgive and move on, but white people like me, often don't even know what we're forgiven for, what the vibe really is. Winners don't just write history, they choose what history is talked about.
As an Egyptian I thank you so much for speaking our mind cause they just can't steal other cultures and we are not allowed to tell our history truth matter and it's not about black and white as I have a dark skin tone but it's about culture appropriation and it's really ridiculous
Heey there ❤ me too i swear this is relieving to watch i feel like we’re very lucky they didn’t found about us or else 8000 years of history and civilisation will go down the drain 😂😂
As an Egyptian myself, I couldn't agree & relate more. Egyptian history is marvelous and frankly nobody gives a damn about American guilt syndrome, i don't feel angry or outraged by people with no culture or history trying to steal mine, all i feel towards them is pity, it's extremely sad and pathetic that someone has to subconsciously tell themselves a lie and live in it cause they are so desperate to find an identity. and FYI our ex minister of Antiquities (yes we do have an entire ministry for our history) the greatest egyptologist of all time, prof. Zahi Hawas descredited the show,calling out the afrocentric movement and black washing, meh...just sad. And one more note that i would like to add, being on the same continent doesn't mean you are the same, this is basically saying that i can get a random chinese actor to play ghandi, it's pure absurdity, 1 continent can have an insane amount of ethnisities, judging by the same logic, let's get another chinese dude to play stalin or putin (since the majority of russia is in asia) .
It is astonishing that people so influential like those of Netflix can commit so crassus mistake about basic history. Cleopatra was of greek ancestry, and not just that, egyptians are not black people. There are black people in Egypt, but most of them are of mediterranean type.
Add 10 ingredients to a Russian salad, at which point is it no longer a “Russian salad “? Start with Ancient Pyramid builders 10,000 years ago then add invasions from Nubians, Assyrians, Greeks, Romans,Turks , Arabs, etc. All migrant and moving populations moving across continents only within the last 2000 years. Yet West Africans were in a box that never left in 10000 years. Nor did the people who built the pyramids leave Egypt. Invasion after Invasion and not one Egyptian government flee? All invasions from north, East and South making the West it’s most likely escape. Being proud of your Macedonian ancestors is fine, but much truth lies in the pride. She was prostitute to power and barely and only notable achievement was that she learned a bit of her subjects language.
@@P.Whitestrake you right i.m gonna leave this here HISTORICAL AND BIBLICAL FACT HAM The youngest son of Noah, born probably about ninety-six years before the Flood, and one of the eight persons to live through the Flood. He became the progenitor of the dark races-not the Blacks, but the Egyptians, Ethiopians, Libyans, and Canaanites (Gen.10.6-Gen.10.20).(Gen.9.20-Gen.9.27).The descendants of Ham (Ps.78.51; Ps.105.23; Ps.106.22). In these passages “Ham” is used as another name for Egypt as representing Ham’s principal descendants.A city of the Zuzites, east of the Jordan (Gen.14.5). HISTORICAL FACT 639 AD Summary. During the reign of Umar, the second caliph of the Arabs, Arab armies under the leadership of Amr ibn al-As invaded and conquered Egypt in 639 AD. Egypt was then a province of the Byzantine empire, ruled by a governor residing in Alexandria, the capital city. HISTORICAL FACT the word egypt means black kemet Africa The name Egypt comes from the Ancient Greek Aiguptos and Latin Ægyptus, and is also derived from hūt-kā-ptah (Temple of the Soul of Ptah). The ancient Egyptian name for the country was km.t (pronounced “kemet”), meaning “black land” likely for the fertile soils of the Nile valley. Today, Egypt’s official name is Jumhūrīyat Miṣr al-ʻArabīyah, or “Arab Republic of Egypt”. Ancient Aethiopia, (Greek: Αἰθιοπία, romanized: Aithiopía; also known as Ethiopia) first appears as a geographical term in classical documents in reference to the upper Nile region of Sudan, as well as certain areas south of the Sahara. Its earliest mention is in the works of Homer: twice in the Iliad,[1] and three times in the Odyssey.[2] The Greek historian Herodotus "specifically" uses the appellation to refer to such parts of sub-Saharan Africa as were then known within the inhabitable world.[3] Etymology The Greek name Aithiopia (Αἰθιοπία, from Αἰθίοψ, Aithíops, 'an Ethiopian') is a compound derived of two Greek words: αἴθω, aíthō, 'I burn' + ὤψ, ṓps, 'face'. According to the Perseus Project, this designation properly translates in noun form as burnt-face and in adjectival form as red-brown.[4][5] As such, it was used as a vague term for dark-skinned populations since the time of Homer.[i][6] The term was applied to such peoples when within the range of observation of the ancient geographers, primarily in what was then Nubia (in ancient Sudan). With the expansion of geographical knowledge, the exonym successively extended to certain other areas below the Sahara. In classical antiquity, the term Africa (or 'Ancient Libya') did not refer to any part of sub-Saharan Africa, but instead to what is now known as the Maghreb and all the desert land west of the southern Nile river. i would expect a greek person too get upset not a arab HISTORICAL FACT AND BIBLICAL FACT Who were the first to conquer Egypt? TWO FACES OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR BABYLON AS IT IS WRITTEN Daniel 7 In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters. 2Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. 3And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. 4The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it. 5And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh. 6After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it. 7After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. Daniel 8 The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia. 21And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king. 22Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power. 23And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. 24And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. 25And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand. Greek and Roman Egypt Following several centuries of Medo-Persian rule from 525 BCE, the Ancient Egyptian Empire finally fell under the conquest of Alexander the Great in the year 332 BCE. who (ARABS) don't even look the people depicted on the egyptians walls or statues yes cleopatra is white her father is white greek general HISTORICAL FACT Hellenistic period The Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt began following Alexander the Great's expulsion of the MEDO-Persians from Egypt in 332 BCE. It was a strategic move so that he could then take over the MEDO-Persian Empire and move further into Asia, and after founding the new capital city of Alexandria and putting Hellenistic statesmen in charge, Alexander never returned to the country. For several hundred years, until 30 BCE, Alexandria became an important commercial port city, dominating trade routes on the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas. The city also became a centre for Greek culture, but interestingly, the Greeks adopted many Ancient Egyptian traditions and religious customs. The Ptolemaic Kings named themselves as Pharaohs, and built a number of magnificent temples in honour of the Egyptian gods throughout their reign, including Kom Ombo and Edfu. Civil war amongst the Ptolemies and the death of Cleopatra, the last reigning ruler of Ptolemaic Egypt, lead to the conquest and annexation of Egypt by the Roman Empire in 30 BCE. the cast did a poor job indeed it's hollyweird bassem said it best we are invaders and conquerors yes you are indeed remember 639 AD p.s. i always wonder the lord god of my forefathers jesus likened ISRAEL too another Black Nation Cush (Ethiopia) as it written Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith the LORD. Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir? because the lord look into the future saw that egypt was gonna be conquered before a man wrote it down in history REMEMBER 332 BC REMEMBER 639 AD
I'm African and when I watched Black Panther I was impressed about the level of detail they went into with the various African cultures because I have grown up around them and live next to them every day of my life I was even sort of impressed about how Andy Sirkis pulled off the Afrikaans accent even if it was a little exaggerated because its a hard accent to pull off. 1. Its a sci-fi future movie inspired by Africa taking place in a fictional kingdom not a documentary about a real place. 2. The people working on the movie clearly did a lot of research about the various cultures here to incorporate into the futuristic setting and costumes. 3. If it was a documentary meant to represent an actual African nation the American actors imitating African accents would come across as mocking even in though the skin colours match up. 4. Bassem is right even in the southern parts of Africa we don’t all look black in fact there are various kinds of black, coloured people, Indians, Chinese, Portuguese and white. In Egypt you will see Middle eastern skin tones, black and white. Cleopatra was known to be of Mediterranean decent thats not up for debate she may not have looked like Audrey Hepburn she live in Egypt she was probably properly tanned but at least Find someone greek to play the roll and try to find someone who can speak Egyptian or at least someone willing to learn. 5. the queens guard at the time where quite often Maasai who are quite tall black people and excellent warriors that would have been good to be in the "documentary" but you need to include majority middle eastern skin tones preferably actual Egyptians think Ravi Malek because thats what the world looked like then there are Egyptian and greek actors just look around its not that hard. This isn't about Americans and their history. 6. Most of the black population in America come from slave trade in the Caribbean the people had been living there for generations before they where even taken to America between the 1700-1800s and they came to the Caribbean from Western and Central Africa no where near Egypt. Africa is a huge continent with many countries and different cultures so though there was some overlap and movement It wasn't that often the likelihood is that you probably don’t have any or very little Egyptian heritage. It would be cool if Hollywood would talk about your Caribbean heritage. Rihanna is Barbadian you can hire her.
As an Egyptian, I want to thank you for telling the truth. You are truly a rational and educated person. Secondly, I want to ask you, why did you say that you would not return to Egypt? What bothered you? I am sorry, brother. If you had a bad experience, like any other country, you will find the good and the bad. Once again sorry for your experience and we hope you will visit Egypt again
Time to listen to the people who own that history! My favorite quote from this! I hope that good sir understands that not all Americans think like Hollywood
I find it odd that he uses this opportunity to tell African Americans (boxing them into west Africa)…their history. (Contradicts his philosophy- of can’t tell someone else their story through your lense) His placement in itself acknowledges the Mobility of people groups and their history isn’t stationary! Some African Americans predate colonial discovery of America , some came as slaves. Going back 50 years, my ancestors were in Arkansas, 85years Jamaica, 87 years Cuba, 250 years Mali and Nigeria, 300years back Congo, 400 years Nilotic nomads in the Horn of Africa, all that movement in less then 500 years….500-10,000 quite possibly Egypt!!!! So get off your high horse dictating to others their placements in history based off your understandings. Seems hypocritical!
Main point of this for me is that they are claiming this series to be a documentary and immediately failing pretty badly by claiming Cleopatra was black when she was not. Previous movies where Cleopatra was played by a white woman were mostly fiction. Those never claimed to be historically accurate. BUT... Elizabeth Taylor was probably closer to what Cleopatra looked like than this actress. Also, I'd like to point out to everyone. Please don't blame the actors who are just doing a job they were hired to do. Blame the producers/people in charge.
it's just actors anyway if you don't make it a plot device what color they are - or use it as a gimmick. in theatre/arts it used to be that you just had whoever play whoever. making a marketing point/thing that it's a movie of a thing done already but this time the actor is black/fat/asian/disabled whatever is just a gimmick. in this case too that the actor is black is just a gimmick same as if you had a ceasar movie with everyone with enormous teeth, it should just be insulting
@@lasskinn474 But in this case it shouldn't be a gimmick. BECAUSE it's supposed to be historically accurate. And in this case it's even worse, BECAUSE they have people in the "documentary" saying stupid shit like "I don't care what they teach you in school. Cleopatra was black." A documentary this is not.
@@lasskinn474 You're right that most of us wouldn't even be aware of this "documentary" without this gimmick. But this makes a mockery of serious documentaries and historians. Not to mention all Greek, Macedonian and Egyptian people who care about their history. I say Netflix should not have it listed under Documentaries but as fiction.
small note on the Prince of Persia movie. It was a pretty prominent story at the time that the casting directors tried extremely hard to get Persians to audition, but none of them would in protest of the bastardization of their culture.
Because prince of persia story is fictional story… If you want to make movie about a character that lived in history you have to be accurate af . Because thats documentary
I once had an Uber driver lecture me about how Jesus was black. When he asked me what I thought Jesus looked liked, I said my understanding was that he would have appeared Middle Eastern. He looked appalled and that ended the conversation.
I am for actors acting - but when it comes to documentaries - you gotta use the ethnic group that the documentary is about. There's a few wonderful Egyptian actors/actresses, there's Yasmine Al Massri (her mother is Egyptian) and one of my favorites, Rami Malek. And one funny thing most likely not related, I remember someone talking about "Night at the Museum" and they were talking about "how it was offensive that a white person was playing the pharaoh, And how they should have casted a proper actor! Anger!! RAGE!!!" The actor playing that character was Rami Malek - who is from California - but was born to Egyptian immigrants.
I'm venezuelan, but i live in the US. I came here when i was 9 (I'm 40 now). My skin is very white, but i never thought about it really until i came to this country, because venezuelans come in all shades and no one really cares down there. One time i was in a room full of Mexican Americans in highschool, and they were all telling me i wasn't Hispanic because my skin is white, but i was the only one in the room that spoke Spanish and actually came from a Hispanic country. So i wasn't the right color to be Hispanic. Meanwhile, i would have my white and black friends insisting that i wasn't white because i speak Spanish, but my skin is literally very white. I have a friend currently who is from Dominican republic, he is black and his story is very similar to mine. He told me when he came here as a child he had people telling her wasn't black because he spoke Spanish. My friend is very black, and we had a good laugh about the similarities in our stories. Americans are so confused about their identities.
I’ve had people argue with me about being American because I have Asian features ( my mom is Japanese) but I’ve only ever lived in the US. Apparently Americans can’t look Asian 🤷♀️🤦♀️
Americans get distracted by their elite to different directions.. colour/ Gender/ religion.. so they forget about the health care system/ inflation/ homeless disaster/ addiction/ low quality of education/ wars and defence budgets/ the gigantic gab between the rich people and poor people
Dr. Bassem Youssef is absolutely right. I'm deeply sorry for the actress playing the role, and why is no one talking about who produced this "documentary" without doing their homework. They should take responsibility for this. Anyway, thank you for a honest reaction.
@@brotherkhrayn3525 so she's trying to put this on her mother...that's very immature...it's unfortunate it has come to this...if not a documentary, I would think another way, however, now that I've been told it's not just a movie/story, I agree..this shouldn't have made it off the "cut room" floor..
the thing you said about morocco and egypt is so true, and i can say it’s the same thing here in my country (algeria) which is also a north african country. the skin color pallette is CRAZY diverse, fair skinned kabyles, dark skinned tuaregs, brown skinned chaouis and so many more yet if you ask them about their “origin” per say they will all reply with “algerian”. i remember when i was first exposed to this racial categorisation among americans (funnily enough it was on twitter lmao) i was so so shocked.
Algerians are north africans, they are more" white "than black. I mean , they are not negroids. If you take a blood dna test to Algerians you will see that they are "europiod" race. And in Marocoo or Algeria they call black algerians "karloush" it's like an insult to black africans. One thing should be understood - subsaharian africans looks just like african americans, and north africans looks like arabs , and arabs are white.
@@vernehetzel5411 Does anyone (except Americans) still subscribe to these archaic ideas of "race" you're talking about here? People in Africa don't have just one look.
@@freudianslippers6567 Actually i think Americans have their own idea of "races" because for them white is very close group. While in Europe it's quite a broad group that included not only northern Europeans but also all of Mediterranean, middle east and India. If you look at people there that's quite a big pallet. It's very tied to Indo-European culture since the flow of people also caused a flow of culture and vice-versa. As European i heard many derogatory names for people from different regions, but they were still considered white. The whole idea that white means only pale Nordic is only in US, and never existed outside of it.
@@vernehetzel5411 I'm North Moroccan, Amazigh. The whitest people in North Africa are of the pure Natives berbers decsents.. The ones who's their ancestors got mixed with Arab are darker... And you saying Arab are White is soo ridicolious. Millon dollar go Find me one single native Arab from Arabia pinsuela who's white, or/and have fair hair/colored eyes . STOP BRINING YOUR ARABicrap into every North African topic. Stop claimng what you are Not. Arab were never been White. LEVANTS, EGYPTIANS, NORTH AFRICA NS AMAZIGH ARE WERE NEVER BEEN ARAB.
And up until the 90’s and PC culture black people would say they were American because the word African American wasn’t used outside of racist black Marxist groups before that.
@@johnygoodman6659 No, all Americans across the board are ignorant but the black ones in particular have such a complex about their sad history that they have to steal parts of other people's history to make themselves feel better about being slaves.
Actually you are wrong. Most Americans do not agree with this portrayal of Cleopatra, and that includes the AA community here. They are all over You Tube talking about it. America is a whole mixing pot as well, and we all don't think the same. There are a lot of AA who agree with the Egyptian guy.
Unfortunately I feel many black people cling to the idea that our people originated from Egypt because there is such a lack of ancestral history for many African Americans and they hold onto what little information (even inaccurate information) they have to go off of and run with it because there’s comfort in the idea of establishing an “identity”. I do recommend everyone do a deep drive in West African history and pick up a book to inform themselves. The history is JUST as interesting.
Well, Afrocentrism is based on their insecurity & inferiority complex. Ancient Egypt is seen as the most advanced culture in the ancient world. To cope with their sense of inferiority & insecurity, Afrocentrist activists claim Egypt as their land & Ancient Egyptian culture as their culture.
@@P.Whitestrake But at Cleopatra's time, ancient Egypt wasn't the most advanced - there were many African empires that were further advanced at that time.
The Egyptian reaction is perfectly understandable as it's literally impossible not to see this issue without suspecting the hand of Afrocentric ideology. The map of Africa doesn't stop at Egypt and this crazy fixation is unwarranted: it only takes away from and can never add onto any respect the world has for Afr-Am's. Youssef: "...it's not about white and black...the way that Americans talk about it". I can't agree more as most people aren’t thinking about skin colour till Americans enter the room..
@@hbsupreme1499 boo hoo that doesn’t mean you get to claim culture that doesn’t belong to you. How about ‘African’ Americans claim their European ancestry because you share more in common with them than you do Egyptians.
Egyptologist here! I don't know of any Egyptologist or Archaeologist who agrees with the Afrocentrism movement. Ancient Egypt was not a black sub-saharan civilization. The ancient Egyptians were the ancestors of the modern Egyptians. The influence of the Libyans, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs and Turks on the Egyptian gene pool is overestimated. The number of immigrants and conquerors has always been small in relation to the population of Egypt as a whole. In addition, the conquerors stayed mainly in cities, were traders, military, rulers, but did not mix with the local rural population of peasants. Conquerors, warriors, and traders do not become "Fellahin". However, before industrialization, the population of Egypt always consisted of more than 90 percent farmers! They have village traditions that go back thousands of years. Their ancestors were the builders of pyramids and temples. So all credits go to the Egyptians and nobody else. What Black US-Americans do is cultural appropriation and identity theft.
Of course you wouldn’t, you were taught by institution whose roots have racial biases. And lie as if we don’t see a clear indication that they were indigenous Africans and the people we see today is the result of invasion. They do nit stem from ancient Egyptians. And “Afrocentrism” is Eurocentric construct when they don’t agree with evidence presented to them, because they can’t admit the African origins of Egypt. Prime example Cheik Diop who debated Egyptologist and they couldn’t rebuttal him.
Also if your an “Egyptologist” you would know Coptic Egyptians today have closest exact DNA of ancient Egyptians and still speak the Egyptian language!
OMG thank you! I'm Greek and I thank you sooo much for acknowledging Cleopatra's "greekness"...if it was a film I wouldn't care (Troy was crap) if it was a cartoon I wouldn't care but a "docuseries" should be more accurate!
@@colberthunter12 history, archeology and linguistics (science) say otherwise. If you disagree take it up with them because I'm not getting into this conversation here
@@blackknight8394 I had to read the original at school (I hated it at the time 😵💫) so I was all hyped for the movie, Imagine my disappointment when I realised that in the film they had left out sooooo much important stuff that made the epoch so awesome and the story so great. the dialogues in the original were really really good but left out in the film.
No. Kemet, literally the "Black Land" The name derived from the colour of the rich and fertile black soil which was due to the annually occurring Nile inundation. So Kemet was the cultivated area along the Nile valley. The deserts on either side of the Nile were called Desheret, the "Red Land" (desher meant "red"), after the reddish colour of the desert sand.
Using their logic, the Egyptians from the desert areas had red skin and Natives from Greenland have green skin. Egypt had many different names including KEMET. They had so many names for Egypt. The name Egypt came from a Greek pronunciation of a later name for Egypt connected to an Egyptian god.
We had nothing to do with North African countries as American Blacks and that's perfectly fine. We have made many valuable contributions, both credited and uncredited in the United States.
I agree with you 100% however I find it strange many black Americans say "we" did this or that. I'm sorry but individuals did those things. I don't say as a white person with Swedish heritage "we" invented dynamite. Alfred Nobel did, "we" didn't. its just strange to me
Well that’s a very categorical as a comment .. because egypt is more like north east of africa which is different North African countries located in the west staring from Algeria morocco mauritania and the limit is very thin in senegal ..
@@rigg4146 Thank you! I would say it’s because many of us have a communal pride when we see or read about individuals within our American Black lineage group accomplish wonderful goals in spite of the the government-sanctioned chattel enslavement, Jim Crow laws and policies , under-education/miseducation and redlining imposed upon as a group. It’s a different mentality here in the United States as it relates to ADOS aka American Descendants of Slavery or American Blacks.
I learnt more from Assassin's Creed Origins than anything the History Channel or this Cleopatra "Documentary" has put out. This is when game developers get PASSIONATE about a subject matter and go wild with historical accuracy. Ofc the Assassin killing stuff is for our entertainment :) Video games TEACH and are a more powerful medium of education if done correctly.
11:25 "Kemet" does mean "black land" as you said, but most Egyptologists agree that this referred to the fertile land, that the soil was so rich in silt and clay that it was black. 15:57 A few good picks would be Rami Malek and the late Omar Sharif. Another pick (though exclusive to the MENA region) is Adel Imam.
I think the Egyptian hit the nail squarely on the head when he said that he didn't care one way or another about the actors race/ethnicity while portraying a fictional character, but when it's historical he wanted it as accurate as possible. After all Morgan Freeman did a great job in 'The Shawshank Redemption' even though in the fictional story his character was white. Also whoever said it didn't matter in plays but it does in movies was also correct. As retired USAF, in the early 1980's I was stationed in the Philippines and saw the play 'Amadeus' (before the movie came out). All the actors were Filipino playing white Austrians, including Mozart, speaking English not German, and they did a fantastic acting job, 5 minutes into the play I only saw Austrians not Filipinos in white wigs. While Mozart is a historical figure it was a fictional story and a play. But I was happy when the movie came out that they tried to make the fictional story as historically accurate as possible. Another example in the play 'Hamilton' I think it's alright for a racially diverse cast but if they make a documentary about Hamilton, I want the actors to be more accurate in their racial depiction..
You should see the trailer for this Cleopatra documentary there's literally a woman in it who says my grandmother told me I don't care what they teach you Cleopatra was black
I agree with you 💯. When it comes to history, you respect it's accurate story. Yourssef was right and had every right to be upset. Out of all the African queens, why pick one of most well researched and well known in history. What bothers me about this is as black people (especially in America) we know what it is like when other people who are not us tell our stories. They made either cartoonishly insult or water down the accuracy of black people living in America. So why is it okay to do that to others?
Not going to lie I'd watch a movie with the rock as Gandi, Ryan gosling as barrack Obama and Denzil Washington as trump woopie gold berg as queen Elizbeth the second. It would make a great comedy set in the civilizations game universe.
You are 100% correct. For the rest of the world almost every skin shade lighter than light brown is white. And we do not associate skin color with culture, heritage, or identity, for us it’s just a skin color.
It’s a North African and South American culture that Americans doesn’t understand. They think a continent is a whole and everyone is the same. They doesn’t even understand that south European are nothing like Scandinavians 🤣 imagine saying Spaniard and Swedish has to be the same because both Europeans 🤣
@@gmailyou367 well yeah south europens have prety mutc hthe same skin tone as ythe nordics but they have different eyes and hair colors along with a different nose shape
That Egyptian guy DOMINATED !!! Well Done Egyptian Brothers! 🇬🇷🤝🇪🇬 And thank you Sir for making this video! West Africans have an ABSOLUTELY FASCINATING History of their own!!! The Racist thing that is happening is that nobody is recreating THEIR STORIES !!!! Enough is Enough!
Thank you for this video! Long time viewer, and I appreciate hearing your perspective on this issue. I agree. I'm also an American living outside of the country, aware of international norms relating to issues of race and ethnicity. Many Americans are under the spell of a strange ideology and have very limited, radical beliefs and ideas. Owen's confidence in his illogical ideas, unfortunately, typifies the American stereotype. I appreciate Youssef's coherent arguments on the topic - as well as yours!
Mel Gibson still managed to direct a movie (Apocalypto) with no name, but historically accurate personages, and still made an incredibly moving picture.
@@Joni_Tarvainen he is talking about personages, like in people I think. Not really sure since I've not seen it in a very long time but they have a indigenous cast from what I remember, which is what personages means, people in play or what not.
@@Bubajumba Aah okay, apologies I misunderstood the comment 🙏 Yes, on that aspect Mel nailed it, even though I kinda remember them speaking Mayan even though it was depicting Aztecs (or vice versa). The plot of the movie was inaccurate but I respect the effort a lot.
I honestly think they did this on purpose to get oeople mad. Like, there is actual Pharaohs that were black and could've made a much better story than cleopatra. Like Piye, who literally conquered Egypt and made his own dynasty.
Not that I dislike Cleopatra's history but the 25th Dynasty is so much more interesting as well. This rise of Nubia who was both a foreign kingdom but itself also heavily Egyptian in that it followed the same gods and spoke Egyptian to take the Kingdom to begin with was massive achievement but they also started building pyramids again which hadn't been done at this point in Egypt for almost a thousand years.
If everyone was like you, the world would be a better place. I love how you distill everything down to the truth and mostly without any bias. I applaud you for being a human of reason and understanding. I truly wish you could have a larger platform so you could teach others how to see the world around them in the way that you do. You don't have to agree but you should be able to understand.
I find it very sad and also infuriating that Netflix is trying to erase a culture. If this weren't a documentary, there really wouldn't be much of a problem, but they're clearly trying to re-write history. I'm of Greek-Macedonian descent, so I find this offensive from my end as well. I completely agree with the Egyptian gentleman's points, this is very upsetting that Netflix would move ahead with this documentary.
None of the 'experts' had expertise in Egypt, Egyptian history, or archaeology. It is as accurate a documentary as those flat earth and alien building pyramid 'docos'
Thank you for your open-mindedness and respect for other cultures ! I proud to be (north)african and mediterranean and I am furious of people who want to deny me my "Africanity" based on my skin colour. And also, I absolutely agree with you on refusing to use "Afro American" designation, I have always thought it is absurd and ridiculous as no one calls the "white" Americans "Euro American", I am not Amercian and not really familiar with the american culture, but I find that appellation reductive and outdated.
Sure they do, Americans are obsessed with an imaginary European culture they deem themselves to belong to even though most have never even left the country. There is Irish_Americans, Scottish_Americans, Italian_Americans, Polish_Americans, etc…. and not so many who claim to be German_Americans besides once you say you are German, they tell you they are as well, but once you switch languages it is suddenly the great-grandmother on the father‘s side way back, and they don‘t even know the region, let alone the place they came from. It‘s all bogus anyway….you belong to the culture you grew up in and you can be inspired if you have learned to understand any other cultures while learning a new language and/or traveling. That‘s appreciation, not belonging.
@@lynnm6413 yeah they only claim the ‘trendy’ or ‘cool’ ones 🤮. I’m Scottish and their arrogance in this regard boils my blood. There are first generation Indian Sikh immigrants who know more about what it is to be Scottish than they do.
@@boxtradums0073 that's true! I fell in love with Scotland on my 2 week trip when I was 14, first time out on my own, visiting my pen pal and her family in Perth Shire... But I'd never claim to be Scottish, especially now that the SNP has forgotten what a woman is! Heartfelt Greetings from Northern Germany
You are on point brother, as a darker Moroccan I never really thought about my skin color till I came to the US. Before that I was just a Moroccan. In Morocco as the video suggest, you will find a rainbow going on! From black all the way to people who are white with blue or green eyes! But we are all Moroccans!!
The term Kemet (black land) didn't refer to race--it's a literal reference to the black soil found in the Nile river valley, which made the land habitable. Also, ironically, Gal Gadot would fit the demographics better than most modern Egyptians, as Ashkenazi Jews are around 40% Semitic and 60% European, which would fit Cleopatra pretty well (she lived hundreds of years prior to the Arab expansion). It's politically incendiary to have her in the role (Egyptians still haven't forgiven the Israelis for the absolute curb-stompings that they delivered them in 48, 67, and 73), but she would otherwise fit the part. And, he is 100% right that the Hebrews didn't build the pyramids. They Hebrews were enslaved by Egypt during their period of expansion around 1300BC, where they expanded north through Canaan, but this was agricultural. The work on the pyramids was actually a form of taxation, where citizens would dedicate a certain amount of time each year to work on one as a civic project.
@@woahblackbettybamalam That's an antisemitic trope that goes back to the time period between the Middle Ages and the 19th century, when Jewish people in Europe were only allowed to do work that had to do with money, trade, administration, medicine or art and weren't allowed to join trade guilds. That has nothing to do with the ancient Hebrews.
I can go in DNA, scripture & historical fact starting with Greek historians on how they described the Egyptians in their time with woolly hair! (Yahusha ) talking to the Original Israelites! Revelation 2:9 9 I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. (Yahusha ) talking to the Jewish people Revelation 3:9 9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. _______________________________ If Ashkenazi Jews or around 40% Semitic & 60% European. Can you please explain the genealogy Genesis 10:3, which say Ashkenazi is Japheth ( European )? Genesis 10:2-3 2 The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras. 3 And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah. Genesis 10:6 ( Ham - Hametic ( African ) you will find mizrhim the original so called Egyptian. Genesis 10:6 6 And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan. ______________________ KEMET means black land as in the people, they lied & said it means the soil lol. If the soil in Egypt the soil is different shades of brown/black like the people! Genesis 10:6 6 And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan. They are all different shades of brown/black but are all Bloodline African! The Israelites was enslaved to work on the pyramids it’s on the hieroglyphs. _____________________ Cleopatra is Macedonian/Greek 100% from her dads side, for a family that are incest which I agree why all of a sudden there’s no written records of her grandmother ( concubine ) & her mother? I’m not saying she as black in her but anything to do with so called black people they hide it just like they try in Egypt! __________________ IM NOT SAYING THIS THE SCIENTISTS ARE, IF YOU ARE A SCIENTISTS ENLIGHTEN ME WITH FACTS & NOT EMPTY WORDS Cleopatra's mother 'was African' Cleopatra, the last Egyptian Pharaoh, renowned for her beauty, was part African, says a BBC team which believes it has found her sister's tomb. Queen Cleopatra was a descendant of Ptolemy, the Macedonian general who ruled Egypt after Alexander the Great. But remains of the queen's sister Princess Arsinoe, found in Ephesus, Turkey, indicate that her mother had an "African" skeleton. Experts have described the results as "a real sensation." The discovery was made by Hilke Thuer of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. "It is unique in the life of an archaeologist to find the tomb and the skeleton of a member of Ptolemaic dynasty," she said. They were real people and not the semi-mythical figures portrayed by Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor Archaeologist Neil Oliver "That Arsinoe had an African mother is a real sensation which leads to a new insight on Cleopatra's family and the relationship of the sisters Cleopatra and Arsinoe. TRUE SAINTS ARE WATCHING & SEE ALL LIES
I would love to provide my perspective on this issue, as a north african (tunisia) but also as an external party to the western world : Make up has always been used to change the tan of the actor or actoress to match what the director has to portray. This is also used in theatre and festival. The only big exception is the color black. This is not because black people are extra sensitive, but rather mainly due to the history of that practice. In the past hollywood and cartoons used this as a method to ridicule and make fun of black people. The context is the most important part. Now in this situation, there has been a massive push to erase the african cultures and most importantly, the diversity within this continent. So many theories and miss information are being spread and pushed about us to the world. To cite just few examples : we are technologically behind by 50-60 years (do we have internet), all africans are black and they are the same type of black, arabs use camels to travel. africa is just a sahara, we are not educated and we don't know what happens outside our countries. these are just small examples and I'm aware that they are not spread to the same degree. With this context in mind, you can understand how africans and especially egyptians can take offense in the missrepresentation of their history in a "DOCUMENTARY". Side note : to anyone who is not aware, Cleopatra is greek/maceddonian. And the people she was ruling are tanned /white (with so many varying degrees, going from super white to a very dark tan and there were also black people as well (with varying ethnicities). And also Jesus was not black and he was not super white either, he was just a tanned person like the rest of the middle east.
They cast Jodie Turner-Smith to play Anne Boleyn who was definitely white, like you said a fictional character can be any race, nationality or ethnicity, but period pieces should have people that are appropriate for the role to play them.
Respect for you being proud of who you really are. Your west African ancestors were great people and had their own civilization that deserve the attention.
The Egyptian guy is 100% right, we in the UK had a similar thing happen when a black actress played Henry 8ths wife Anne Boleyn, I'm all for any actor can play any role but historical figures are sacrosanct, no one has the right to appropriate another culture/history. I really would love to see a white person or someone of another race play MLK or Mandela, and watch them freak out and meltdown. Then maybe they'll see how others feel when they do it to them. I hate the hypocrisy and entitlement and the way they ignore other people and their feelings because theirs are always more important, it's sickening.
Wow! White people have stolen, lied, and robbed black people of their culture. White people have been appropriating cultures in movies for years and no one said a word. There are much bigger lies to focus on than Cleopatra. Let's start by removing images of white Jesus.
The Egyptian guy is 100% wrong, the culture of Ancient Egypt is not his culture; plus there is no such thing as cultural appropriation, culture is to be shared; and anybody has the right to do a movie about Cleopatra, as bad as it may end up; nobody forces him to watch, or prevents him of making a better one
Khemet, "the black earth", is reference to the strip of land made fertile by the black silt deposited by the annual flooding of the Nile, Until the Aswan dam was build.
My only issue with cartoons like The Little Mermaid is that there is already an established character. There is nothing wrong with having a black mermaid but I feel it would be much better if she had her own story.
Yup, same. For fictional work, the issue is more of respect and honoring of the original work. Can nothing be change? No, there can be. But not if they change and stomp on a crucial aspect of the character. In little mermaid? The race is not essential, but is a sign of creative poverty that they cannot tell an original story of a black mermaid, instead of hijacking an established character. Plain lazy and creatively bankrupt.
Well...technically the little mermaid was technically green to begin with and Disney made her white, but I think the character was public domain by then.
Agreed. I would love to see an actual black Disney princess, instead of some blackwashed hand me down from europian folklore. Why not put the stories of Anansi on the big screen for example? Amazing fairy tales from west-african, so obviously it'll need an all black cast. No blackwashing needed. Sadly they're either too ignorant or too superficial to take a chance on some REAL progressive filmmaking.
_"You don't have to take someone else's culture to make yourself feel better."_ 19:15 Once again, Mr. L. Boyd is spitting facts (and flexing his education while he does it). This "reaction" video of his is so based, its pH level must be greater than 13. I want to climb through the monitor screen and shake his hand.
Great take as always dear sir ! As a Moroccan It's always funny when I hear Americans referring to a whole continent as black people or Africans, there's more ethnic and cultural diversity in a single country like Nigeria than both American continents, and don't even get me started about how all Africans aren't dark skinned and those who are dark skinned ( the majority ) are far from being the same ethnicity ...
My brother in christ. you are completely right. I loved the part you mentioned mansa musah, and specifically where you acknowledge the difference between praising West African Culture (which you americans are so proud yet forgetful) and how africa, has, infact, more than just that.
I think it’s the fact that this is presented as a documentary. Films are different and actually I’m Persian/Iranian and no Iranian I know including me cared that the actor wasn’t Iranian. I think mostly people were excited about a story based on Persia/Iran. Also how offensive to assume all of Africa as one entity and not take into account how there are different cultures and ethnicities within Africa.
As a longtime follower of your channels - this is why I'm here! Enlightened, honest, and cultured reactions and opinions. Thank you man, and not saying this because I'm from Egypt.
As italian I was pissed off about how they managed Rome history too. I don't give a damn about skin colors, actually. Speaking for myself, I'm blonde with blue eyes and pale like a newspaper, who cares... but what made me scream was the sloppines of the representation of the most iconic roman period. Ceasar looked like a highschool bully, Marcantonio (the translation Mark Anthony hurts me so much...) was treated like a dumb and Octavian, my beloved Ottaviano, one of the greatest leader in western history, was painted like a psycho. Oh yeah, how about Cleopatra making fool of Cicerone (Cicero), the smartest lawyer, statesman and philosopher in the entire Rome? I was surprised my country didn't sued Netflix too!
If I'm not mistaken, Kemet means "black land" refering to the fertile soil in the language of the egytians themselves and "the land of the burnt faces" is Ethiopia(not modern day but the ancient location) in either greek or a language older than that. I also like you're vieuw on black Amercans vs "African" Americans, As an Irishman myself it always infuriates me when Americans claim to be from Irland so I can only imagin what an African person feels when Americans use African(a much bigger geographical location) never even thought about that. also, ofc the guy defending the show in this intervieuw is another American sticking his nose in the rest of the worlds buisness
I’m a black woman and every time I hear “you’re African American” it infuriates me. No, sir/ma’am I am not. That would be like also saying I’m Scottish-American (which I am not. Ancestry sure but not from Scotland). I don’t know why it became like that. I was taught that (insert country here”)-American means you are FROM said country and became an American citizen. Still crazy if you think about it but that’s what I was taught. Then it became all black people are Africans.
@@samuelbaah7017 you are foreigner don't you EVER tell me what I am or what is my history, and FYI the ministry of tourism and antiques just made a statement about Cleopatra and they confirmed she Is Greek, also confirmed that based on DNA tests done on ancient Egyptians mummies that they are directly linked to the modern Egyptians and that they don't have sub Saharan Africa or west Africa features, so you can f off and stop associating yourself with my ancestors
@samuelbaah7017 no we are real Egyptians we did make DNA tests and confirmed the ancient Egyptians ancestory we share the same DNA in the mummies from old kingdom🎉❤
As an Egyptian, Your reaction calmed me so much! I mean black Americans are mad at Elvis for the leg shaking that he didn’t give them credit for and just imagine how would that make us Egyptians feel when they are not just claiming our heritage, No they are saying that we are not even real Egyptians! Black American made a unique culture that we even here in Egypt imitate and they should be proud of their own culture and not just make up stuff to make themselves feel better! Thank you again for being true to your own opinion, it means all lot, Salute!
No is saying you are not real Egyptians. You’re just not a descendant of the ancient original Egyptians who started Egyptian culture. They were black Africans.
@@The_Truth- No they weren’t, According to black people’s fantasy every thing started with black people and all civilization started with black people and that is no different than what white people have tried to say. Egyptians was never black nor were white just set foot in Egypt then make your claim. Black people ruled Egypt for sure but they were Nubians from Kush kingdom as did white people from greece as did Persians from Persia so it was a fucking melting pot and that was just the rulers of Egypt but Egyptian people never went anywhere, We are not some native American tribes that disease killed us nearly all, We lived in the same land by nile since thousands of years and we still have the same culture even after becoming Muslim and Christian and we still have many words from our ancient language that we still use and we are 120 Million Egyptian! Plus being African doesn’t mean you are black. Arabs, Indians, Chinese and most Russians are all Asian and look how different they all look alike!
They drew themselves on the tombs and walls. Look at the hairstyles, let be honest. This was a black African civilization, that later became mixed. I don’t even think you realize how your biases is really affecting you. Why would you take the word of someone when the evidence says the total opposite. Are you going to believe your eyes or believe the lies of people with racial biases against dark skinned people?
Thank goodness someone actually speaking the facts and is KNOWLEDGABLE. It's funny how they used "Prince of Persia" as an example when it came from a DAMN video game vs historical fact.
The thing about the little mermaid (and i get it, it is a fictional character) the fairytale was written by Hans Christian Andersen, a Danish author, one of the most (if not the most) famous children's author from Denmark. they have a sculpture of her in Kopenhagen, so I think it's safe to say it's near and dear to them. And just changing the story like that is a bit hurtful for them.
Americans have been stealing stories from European cultures and swapping the characters into black ones for a long time. America should have been called out for their racism long ago.
Very impressed Mr. Boyd! Do what they want with cartoons, theatre productions etc., but don't misrepresent history in documentaries. You made some great points sir
Thank you, this was extremely informative! As someone who's lost his heritage, I totally understand Youssef's points of needing to protect any historical facts/heritage one can from being rewritten/reclaimed because someone feels it's not representative enough.
Mr.L.. I have watched a few of your videos and I am absolutely amazed at this video... I never realized how intelligent, educated, knowledgable and articulate you are. Kudos.
Egyptians have gotten the short end of the stick out of these various theories. Some of the first Egyptologists debated over various race theories as well as the idea of modern Egyptians being invaders or water-downed descendants. Then you have the ancient alien theorists who think most of Ancient Egyptian wonders were made by aliens not Egyptians. There's the notion that pyramids were built by Jews/Hebrews even that they were Joseph's granaries. It's not helped that some Zionists believe in a Greater Israel that stretches to the Nile. Ancient Civilization theorists think Atlanteans built the Pyramids not the Egyptians. And you have Afrocentrists claiming the legacy of Ancient Egypt while attacking Egyptians online and in person calling them invaders. No wonder Egyptians are so annoyed with all this.
Brave as hell to say that most blacks have nothing to do with Egypt. Like yea, being Asian doesn't mean that your Asian ancestors build the great wall and fougt Hunns xD
The color problem does only exist in America , as you said in Morocco for example you can find cities in the north with people have blue eyes and blonde hair ,in the middle brown people and some cities in the south east black people , but at the end we are all Moroccans and we don’t treat each other based on our skin color
I went to an international school that was at least half Moroccan and sorry but you do care about race. Nowhere near to the extent that the US does but Northerners do look down on those from the South. My best friend was from Ouarazate but is Arab but my other friend from te South was darker but not as dark as sub-Saharan Africans.
The Egyptian made mincemeat out of the Afrocentric guy on the other side. He is absolutely right. This is about cultural appropriation. Everything about the trailer is cultural appropriation, from the voice of the narrator who you can tell is a black woman to the crazy old bat who says, my grandmother told me that Cleopatra was black and I don't care what they tell you in school to the drumming [Egyptian music did not sound like that] to the black actress who plays Cleopatra. Cleopatra was white and she probably didn't look like Kim Kardashian who is Armenian. Cleopatra was of Greek Macedonian ancestry and Greek Macedonians look very European. They are whiter than Armenians. Don't forget, one of the most famous blondes in the world is Alexander the Great who was, also, Macedonian. There are existing frescos of Cleopatra from her time period and she is depicted having red hair, so, no, she was probably very white as red heads are usually very fair-skinned.
Thank you for your comments. I hate how African Americans have very little knowledge of Africa and it’s diversities and history somehow still talk as if they know better than everyone else. Not all Africa looks like they come from west Africa or sub Saharan. Even sub Saharan countries cannot be blended into one.
Stop attack us maybe if yiu epople saw each other the same yiu wouldnt have been colonized and if your ethnicities are so important why are you in borader made by Europeans
I appreciate your honest reaction to this dilemma, thank you for supporting what is right, is not everything about skin color, documentaries should be about accuracy.
Cleopatra was also created from centuries long incest. She's not even the first Cleopatra, she's the seventh or eighth in her lineage. Her family tree was uncle-niece, first cousins, brother-sister, I think grandfather-granddaughter multiple times for many generations with family members that were Greek/Macedonia. There's absolutely just no way that she would be African. People who believe this wants their history to be better than it was, they wanna feel connected to someone that was great but really isn't a part of their heritage. Just like the lgbtq community turning historical figures into trans or queer. They've been trying to claim Alexander the Great as either a woman or trans which is far from the truth and offensive to everyone from that culture or even history buffs like myself. They've made a play where Joan of Arc is non-binary because she disguised herself as a man to fight in war, which takes away her merits and what she was. Just a patriotic woman fighting for her country and religion.
Well well....if you indeed she was white...she wasn't fighting for her country...because that wasn't her or the Greeks country they were invaders...who invaded the land of the real Egyptians/ Kemetic people...that wouldn't make her a hero...but the real story is she wasn't white....that's why she was fighting for Egypt
When you asked name some famous Arab, middle easter or Egyptian actors, Omar Sharif was the first person who came to mind. Then the most recent one is Rami Malek. It is crucial to have correct representation, don't take what's others' and claim it to be your own.
Why do you need someone in the past to make you feel better about yourself? Why do we keep attaching our ancestors to ourselves like their actions, good or bad, somehow determine who we are? Just because someone a hundred years ago with the same pigment of skin or the same bloodline as you doesnt effect you as a person. What effects you as a person is what YOU do. People cling to the past to tell them who they are when it doesnt tell you who you are, it tells you how you got here but only things you do tell you who you are
Because history matters & tells the story of your people. The modern world is debased and shit, why would I want to identify with modern day nihilism, materialism, cynicism over my culture.? I have no problem with Indians, Chinese, Greeks, Egyptians etc. cherishing their cultural heritage, being proud of their collective achievements & protecting their story. And race isn't just pigment.
Agree 100% with the guy on the right, stating that his culture is being misrepresented. Great reaction and discussion. Your intelligence, sensitivity and cultural awareness on a range of the topics you react to is why I subscribed a long time ago.
As someone who was born in Africa I find it so annoying that alot of Americans don't realize that we are very ethnically diverse. Also as someone who loves history truth matters. Don't call something a documentary when it looks more like a fiction
Yeah it's so annoying when strangers don't know things about me.
@@KimmminemWest are you being sarcastic? Or do you agree? I've never stepped foot outside of Country and I know more about what the rest of the world looks like and I would never assume to know something without finding out first
@@francesbadenhorst6228 what does that have to do with Americans ?
@@KimmminemWest what do you mean what do the Americans have to do with this? I don't understand your question
@@francesbadenhorst6228 you for some reason decided to single us Americans out
As an Egyptian, I am proud of Bassem Youssef's reply. Because he made it clear that we are not talking about skin color because skin color is not important. We are all human after all, and we take issue with the fact that history is being rigged for the sake of posterity.
@@samuelbaah7017 blacks have no legacy , their only legacy is swinging from trees and building houses from elephant poop
@@samuelbaah7017You’re and idiot and all the credible evidence proves what you said to be WRONG. Modern Egyptians ARE the Ancient Egyptians! Even DNA testing of ancient Egyptian mummies have proven this!
Be strong and defend your ancestral history against these West African descended black American culture thieves looking to steal your history to boost their racial pride. You ARE the same people as the Ancient Egyptians and let it be known.
@@samuelbaah7017 😅😅😅lol 80% from Egyptian not Arab 😊
@@Ahmed-y8n9y the truth hurt right 😂😂
An Egyptian lawyer, Mahmoud al-Semary, already sued Netflix because of this
Cleopatra was an ethnic Greek (Macedonian) with some Iranian (Persian & Sogdian) ancestry
▪︎ Her dinasty, the Ptolemaic, was
very incestuous.
▪︎ You have brothers marrying
sisters.
▪︎ The whole Ptolemaic dinasty is
well documented.
------
Also, there's plenty of statues, busts and portraits from the time period.
And also physical descriptions of her, made by the Romans.
Common descriptions about her in Roman texts:
▪︎ about 5 feet tall
▪︎ Brown almond-shaped eyes
▪︎ Curly hair, worn in a ''melon'
style (Greek hairstyle)
▪︎ Possibly a redhead, based on
Roman frescoes of her
▪︎ wears a 'Diadem' of a
Hellenistic ruler around her
head
▪︎ Oval face with soft features,
altough with an aquiline nose
▪︎ Pale olive skin
----
▪︎ The only black rulers of Egypt were the 25th Dynasty, the Nubians/Kushites (from Kush, Sudan)
▪︎ Egypt has been ruled mostly by ethnic Egyptians.
With a few exceptions like:
▪︎ 12nd and 13rd dinasties
(''Meshwesh'', that were of
Libyan origin)
▪︎ 15th dinasty ('Hyksos', who
were 'West Semitic/Levantine')
▪︎ 25th Dynasty (Nubians / from
Kush, Sudan)
▪︎ 26th Dinasty (Assyrian
(modern-day Iraq))
▪︎ 27th & 31st dinasties (Persian)
▪︎ And the last two dinasties
("Argead" and "Ptolemaic") were
Greek (white)
I would disagree with 12th and 13th dynasty unless i am missing something but i believe they were from the south ruled from Waset AKA luxor
I LOVE THE WAY YOU EDITED THIS> It's so clear and concise. I shall take some notes!!
Question, out of pure curiosity and ignorance, how would you define ethnic Egyptians?
@@MissAllWednesday depends on where you are. There was a mass immigration came to Egypt from the Levant and Mediterranean Sea and formed the people of the north, and that creates the majority of Egypt population. Then southern part potentially created by the amazigh and the arab immigration mixed with the nubians. So its a rainbow of colours cause not because you have a dark skin doesn't mean you can only live in the south, same goes to lighter skin
@@avarissenusert that's the information that I found... but yeah, I could be wrong in relation to those two
I will be researching again
Cancel Culture guy: "there was no controversy when white person plaid Cleopatra"
Egyptian guy: "That movie was banned in Egypt, what are you talking about?"
Bonzai
He also said the banning had nothing to do with her race, and was entirely around her supporting the state of Israel. So what was your point again?
@@AQW0RIDS It was banned for both reasons. He clearly stated they wasn't happy about that movie and it was banned and then he added the Isreal support problem. Decisions can have multiple reasons.
@@kristoffermaurer9689 no where in his statement did he mention the reason being race, the only reason was israel.
@@AQW0RIDS And likely not many Egyptians complained about it, because due to the banning, it wasn't present in their nation. But the point was still made that back in that era, Hollywood was culturally insensitive, with make up to make people look Black, Asian, Hispanic, etc, and having Meditterainean or Jewish people to play Native Americans. That still doesn't justify people doing the same thing 50+ years later, when they are supposed to be more informed.
BASSEM IS 100% right.
Yes, Elizabeth Taylor played Cleopatra during a time when Hollywood was grossly uninformed... but I would also add that during such a time actors still held some gravitas, and the name “Elizabeth Taylor” was definitely a box office draw. It would’ve been box office suicide to cast an unknown actor of Egyptian heritage for the sake of historical accuracy during that era.
It should be far less of a challenge nowadays, but here we are.
Egyptian government also banned the Cleopatra movie because of Elizabeth Taylor's depiction. Even with White American actress playing Cleopatra in a romanticised fictional movie adaptation, Egypt said: "Stop that bullshit!"
Cleo was Half Greek and Middle Eastern so Liz Taylor is not such a bad match...
Besides, Elizabeth never said she's the "one and only true" Cleopatra.
@@americanwoman445 It's still not a match. Liz Taylor was from the UK and people from that region of Europe have their own distinct features that are different from Greek/Mediterranean features.
@@Browndrea Honestly there was nothing wrong with Liz Talor playing Cleopatra in my opinion. "Antone and Cleopatra" is a Shakespeare play, historical accuracy isn't a priority. The main problem for me is that This is a documentary, and out of all the rulers of Africa they chose Cleopatra, one of the most unambiguously white pharaohs, to make black.
It's pretty funny that Assassin's Creed can get Cleopatra right *but Hollywood can't*
Yes. I remember that her character betrayed the assassin protagonist who was loyal to the pharaoh. Even when the pharaoh became more loyal to Julius Caesar. That the Roman’s were swaying Egypt to their new order. Even finding out that Caesar allowed the Roman killer of their child to roam about.
The makers of Assassins Creed are very thorough and keep everything accurate. Perhaps Jada, the director, the cancel culture dude and Adele James need to play it
That's because the game was developed before woke bs goes too far.
@@P.Whitestrakelies
@@P.Whitestrake No it wasnt lmao
As an Egyptian i fully respect you and thank you for this video, I’m sick of African Americans telling me I’m an invader and that I don’t belong in my country, Africa has such a rich history and it’s just sad to see them neglect their history to steal others, Even Nubians and sudanis(which are the only black pharaohs) don’t claim Ancient Egypt as their own history, this is just sad
No one said you don’t belong in the country. But you are definitely not a descendant of ancient Egyptians.
@@The_Truth- you’d be surprised of how many Americans say that, also search up “Copts” they are the only descendants of the Ancient Egyptians, which most Egyptians today are Arabized copts, meaning they changed language and religion, but not dna
@@Youssef-ws4py Already did research on Copts. They weren’t the original ancient Egyptians. Their language is derived from the Greek alphabet. Not Egyptians. So there is no surprise to that.
@@The_Truth-
Germanic and Western Slavic people use the Latin alphabet, but aren't Romans. Heck Black Americans use it right here and now, are they Romans too? Writing Greek or Arabic script won't change your DNA, lol.
@@Alias_Anybody What DNA? The 2017 study that got debunked, that dna didn't even date back to the pre-dynasty or first-dynasty era? Let's use common sense. 155 mummies now all of a sudden represent an entire civilization, that doesn't even go back to the founded period. make that make sense, please? Ancient Egyptians are black Africans whose civilization was invaded multiple times. The walls don't lie, they drew themselves and the Africa then isn't the Africa now.
You are absolutely right: Most Black US-Americans have ancerstors from countries like Nigeria, Congo, Senegal, Angola, Cameroon, Ghana, Benin and so on. Not from Egypt. So a big "Thank you!" to all the Black US-Americans who are honest and truthfull. West Africa and Central Africa have a lot of cultures to be proud of.
Basically what happened was because whites stripped the slaves of their culture and they were trying to be proud of themselves, they tried to connect to anything glorious coming out of Africa and that included ancient mixed Egyptians. It's good to be proud of your ancestors, but if your ancestors are from West Africa, focus on that.
How long did Black people inhabitant West Africa? Africa was an all-black continent before the Eurasian, Caucasoid and Arab invaders conquered the Northern part of it forcing the Black indigenous population to migrate in mass numbers to West Africa and other parts of Africa. The Arabs living in Kemet today are nothing but imposter Egyptians who were originally from Asia. If they are the original Egyptians why don't they practice Ancient Egyptian culture and not Arabic Muslim culture?
yeah but arent people egyptian people also african so they are also african america
@@cjxrdanEgypt is considered part of the Middle East
@@watchdog4454 says who it is literally in Africa
Egypt was called " kemet" (the black land) because Egypt was well known for it's black fertile soil for agriculture along the banks of the Nile river then. Fertile soil is always black.
@Duane yes, always. It’s why some areas on earth grow crops better than others. Just look at every soil you can buy at the store for gardening.
Because the Romans went all the way to Egypt to become farmers
Black soil*
Correct. And the Egyptians called the desert Deshret, meaning red. So Egypt was called Kemet (black) because it was situated on the dark soil of the Nile banks surrounded by Deshret (red) desert. Egyptian Copts (Christian Egyptians) still have a version of the ancient Egyptian language used for liturgical use of the Coptic Church. Egyptian Copts often refer to themselves as “remenkimi” (a word to mean native Egyptian). All Egyptians are descendants of the ancient Egyptians with Egyptian Copts being the purest of descendants. This is supported by DNA test results of ancient Egyptian mummies in comparison to both Egyptian Copts and Muslim Egyptians.
@bastiat4855 Yes, correct. All Egyptians were Christians just before the muslim conquest of Egypt in the 7th century. So even the Muslim Egyptians are remenkimi (native Egyptian). It’s just the Egyptian Copts (Christian Egyptians) of today are the only ones to retain the only surviving version of the ancient Egyptian language and have the purest ancient Egyptian ancestry of all Egyptians.
BTW the Khemid thing with egypt has nothing to do with ethnicity or skin color, it reffers to the literally black 'land' as in the dirt, which was super fertile due to all the minerals being washed up from nile floods.
YUP
👊👊👊👊
nah if it has the word "black" in it its obviously the property of the African Americans
@@MrLboydReacts , not all black Americans believe Cleopatra was black but I agree the majority do. Too many of us lack a true understanding of history and geography. Unfortunately having black pride has been interwoven into Afrocentric beliefs with a good mix of conspiracy theories thrown in. 🤷🏽♀️
Exactly. And people are also dumb enough to think that in a continent predominated by black people, that they would refer to their land as the "land of the blacks," or "black land," when literally almost everyone is black so that wouldn't make sense lol People just like to live in delusion.
I'm from Egypt and I am very impressed with your credibility, impartiality, and your fairness defense of my culture.
It's not "your" culture, invader
There is nothing credible about this. Black Americans are as diverse as Egyptians. There are black Americans that look white.
I saw that trailer for Cleopatra and I said LIES!! That is not Cleopatra! Good for you standing up for your history. We are with you.
As an American I find it weird that a modern Egyptian is concerned with the depiction of a Macedonian. It to me is like Native Americans being offended by the depiction of white cowboys in a period piece. Also the genealogy of African Americans ancestry 10k years ago could actually place them in Egypt! And a modern Egyptian ancestry could be in Arabia 10k +years prior! They argue Depiction inaccuracies because Cleo was Macedonian but ignore the multiple invasions changing the genetic makeup of Modern Egyptians. A modern American and a Native American are clearly not the same ppl. So modern White American would sound crazy saying they built the pyramids in Mexico just because they live in the area now.
@@AliSalladin As Egyptians, we do not see Cleopatra as a queen of conquerors as much as we see her as part of Egyptian history, that history was melted down in this region from many races such as the Romans, Persians and Arabs, which made the genetic map of the Egyptian people diverse, but we have never heard of an ethnic cleansing of the Egyptians as happened in America for this Your example is wrong. We see Cleopatra like Muhammad Ali, the Egyptian king of Albanian origin, but he was one of the greatest kings of Egypt, and he was the one who built its strong army and Egypt expanded a lot during his reign. Muhammad Ali ruled Egypt and loved it, so he and his sons became very Egyptian in our eyes and in Egypt’s modern history.
It’s a really interesting phenomenon how a lot of US Americans (as well as Canadians) strongly define themselves based on their ancestry. Like there are people walking around in the US who has never set foot in Ireland, yet claim to be Irish. My Canadian friend once told me (a Norwegian) that he was basically a Norwegian himself. And like no, you’re not. Your great grandfather was a Norwegian, but you were not born in Norway, you have never lived in Norway, you don’t even speak the language. I mean my great grandfather was Finnish, but I would never claim to be part of Finnish culture. The whole thing is just very strange to me.
I once went to Ireland and Irish people said they were tired that some Americans claim they are Irish just because some great grand father was and they make fun of that. I'm Argentinian and my ancestors are from Spain, Italy and guess what? Ireland. And I didn't say anything about it, it's just non-sense, we are not our great grand-fathers and we should live with the identity that we own today. So you guys are Americans fine, but you see, it is really upsetting that we are from South America and we are not called Americans too, we are called "latins" why??? North America, Central America and South America.... we all are Americans. World would be better if we all accept this fact and stop separeting from each other basing on the skin colour. African people is african and then inside Africa there's a lot of different countries and cultures, but they are all Africans, same with Europeans... So what the hell is going on with America that we are not all Americans??? Just because United States doesn't want it, it is not fair.
this is what happens when you live in a country of immigrants. origin is great but you came their fore a reason to built a new one, so do it. youe own history starts when you move.
i just immediately get stuck on, how does it make you right to get the casting race wrong just because someone else got it wrong 100 years ago too? pointing at someone saying they got it wrong too doesn't make you right. its a documentary not a movie and should be accurate
I agree. My grandparents came from Norway. My biological mother was first generation American. I found out about my Norwegian heritage first through Ancestry, then by finding my biological family. I am not Norwegian, but I am of Norwegian descent. I am American. I don't go around claiming to be Norwegian-American, so hearing the hyphen between in regards to ancestry is a huge put-off to me. As was stated, unless you were born in the country, you can't claim to BE of that country. Only your ancestors are of that country. We need to stop this.
Also, I'm with the man that is Egyptian. Why wasn't someone of Egyptian or Arab descent chosen to portray this role? They should have been if they are claiming that it's a documentary! Come on Hollywood! Get your crap together!
now you see we have the same problem here in LATAM with the americans that proclaim to be latinos. no, you are third gen born in america, have never stepped a foot outside of the us unless its vacation and refuse to properly learn the lenguage you are so "pride" of
Bassem is based and smart and funny. Got run out of his country by its fascist leader at the time for speaking truth, don’t you dare silence him now.
Bassem actually had a Jon Stewart kind of satirical show in Egypt until he had to flee the country. He was formerly a surgeon.
If he wants a movie made his way he should make it
@@KimmminemWest if you want history to be proud of, make your own and don't just steal....
@@anoobisosiris7364 I don't make movies .. I cook... so take your own advice cuz u don't know me to be given me instructions.
@@KimmminemWest oh...ur allowed to talk about my history...but im not.!...you american by any chance? ur arrogant enough to pass as one
Imagine how we feel about this as Egyptians, to say we are LIVID about this would be an understatement. And the Greek people too are equally livid about this. To hell with you Jada Smith and to hell with Netflix They crossed a line.
To he'll with you racist
Same as when they did english queen anne bolyin as black historical figure white. Or a viking as black..wounder how scandernavians felt about that...its like they have to steaĺ other countries history...havent they got own history???
@@chezann8185 they are angering everyone, they have no shame. People are starting to stand up, they won't win.
Agree agree
Same as we Italians are being appropriated like with the Mafia (nothing to be proud of) but still!!
This is so crazy we literally have her genealogy written down. As well as portraits and sculptures of her. This isn't about playing Cleopatra in a movie, it's the fact that they're claiming this show is a documentary
I think Black Americans, who are West African-Anglo Saxon hybrids, just believe that this history is owned to them as almost a type of reparation.
i mean it's produced by the woman that said her affair was just an entanglement
Whilst its not perfect it tells an important story of an African Queen, how that people with darker skin (non-white) were once some of the most powerful people in the world and how it was from Africa that Europe got its power and wealth.
@@David-hc4xh
Yet it gets so many crucial things wrong😂😂
just because someone else got the math wrong doesn't make you right when you use it, feels like insanity that he can say its a good choice just because someone else a hundred years ago got it wrong too. this is such a loss for egyptian equality and they should be angry
I love the Mansa Musa reference. Too many people have no idea about him. He needs a movie and thats someone that people of West African Decent could definitely get behind instead of trying to take other cultures just because they are one the same continent.
Jaded Smith would have Russell Crowe playing him, she needs to retire.
Would love the scene of him tanking Egypt's economy for decades by tossing around gold to the poor.
Mansa Musa's fortune was built on gold, salt and slaves.
@@alicemilne1444 So was egypt what is your point?
@@yrretgnortsmra8955 People of West African descent in the USA (which is what this is all about, after all) wouldn't be too happy celebrating someone whose empire was built on selling slaves to Arab traders.
This whole issue is very America-centric. I am a European who studied history. When I tried to inform afro-centric afro-americans that no, Cleopatra VII was not black, we have her family tree, and by the way the ancient Egyptians were not black but copts, they served me afro-centric conspiracy theories that history books were all white washed; and when I pointed out that the afro-centric conspiracy theory is, well, a conspiracy theory, they told me to be ashamed to tell black people what to think since my ancestors had enslaved theirs. Excuse me, Finland was not even involved in the transatlantic slave trade. They don't seem to understand that they acted with the same attitude as white colonisers to the rest of the world.
I agree that Cleo was Greek, but because of her maternal lineage being a mystery. It is a high probability that she was mixed. But, I never understood why this era is the focus of Egyptians culture when the founders and creators of Egyptian culture are black Africans. Not invading Greeks.
@@The_Truth- Her maternal lineage is not likely to be black. In the very improbable event that she wasn't the daughter of Ptolemy XII and Cleopatra V, but of some concubine, it would still be probable to be either another family relation or some member of the Diadochi families (meaning Greek) as the Ptolemaic dynasty absolutely hated mixing. Certainly no royal who didn't have an absolutely acceptable bloodline and lineage by THEIR standards, i.e. being Macedonian Greek, would never first have considered suitable as wife for her own brother, and then later when she ousted her the same brother in a power struggle, suitable as queen herself. THEY would never have accepted a mixed bloodline. Not because of skin color, they didn't care about that (there were black people who were considered "Greek" because they culturally were Greek) but because for the royal dynasty, it was about keeping their own Macedonian bloodline as pure as possible. If not family, then they only married the other royal Macedonian lineages descended from Alexander's empire.
I was arguing with one that clamed greek people turkish etc are all black 😅
@@littlehorrorbunny3347 Ancient Egyptians definitely were before invaders came. Some people like to claim they were well done Europeans and Greeks.
@@The_Truth- IDK what you think native "African" is, but even that can vary a great deal in appearance. And has since the beginning of time. Some peoples can be built very fine boned, and nowhere near as dark as West Africans typically are. And it has nothing to do with "invaders". The Berbers in the north of Africa are one of the 7 oldest tribes, going back 10,000 years, predating even the Masai (3000 yrs old). The oldest is in the south, the San tribe which is thought to be somewhere between 100-140,000 yrs old.
Variance came naturally about due to the long history of human evolution, local climate differences over time, and other such factors. The same way humans evolved in different ways as they left Africa and adapted to their local climates.
"Kemet" (Dark or Black Land) was literally a reference to the dark color of the fertile mud deposits carried by the Nile, not to the color of the people. Ancient Egyptians used the term as opposition to "Desheret" (Red Land), a reference to the color of Desert lands farther away from the Nile's margins. In essence, "Kemet" was the fertile land near the Nile where most Egyptians lived, and "Desheret" were the arid lands of Lybia, Sinai and Arabia, scarcely inhabited by nomadic tribes.
Int the original video they're confusing names of Egypt and Ethiopia. Greek name for Ethiopia is Αἰθιοπία, which is like Burnt-face-ia, if translated word by word literally.
Thanx I was about to write this.
Just look at the paintings on the tombs...they literally painted themselves dark skinned it's facts ppl
@@shaunisler2120 We studied their remains, dear. We have their BODIES. You can say that having hundreds and hundreds of mummies. Some were dark, some were light skin. That's all.
@@shaunisler2120 Wrong, you can see in many painted murals that Egyptians depicted themselves differently from the Nubians. Egyptians depict themselves as fair skinned (painted as yellow or red) with semitic facial traits (middle eastern caucasoids) and depicted the Nubians as dark skinned (painted black) with negroid facial traits. For example there is a mural in Seti's I Tomb representing the different emissaries sent by the various neighboring Kingdoms tributary to Seti, between those emissaries there is a Nubian which is completely black, there's a Lybian and a Canaanite with pale yellow skin and there's an Egyptian with red skin.
Cleopatra wasn’t black. Case closed
But Barack Obama is white with Irish origin
Well Arab people are invaders! So wtf u on about! And ps there was no whyte people in Africa! Stop your racism! Punk whyte fuker
Well Arab people are invaders! So wtf u on about! And ps there was no whyte people in Africa! Stop your racism! Punk whyte diner
FOR THE LAST TIME YES HER DAD WAS GREEK THIS IS NOT THE POINT!
ITS NOT DOCUMENTED WHAT ETHNICITY HER GRANDMOTHER OR MOTHER WAS BECAUSE HER GRANDMOTHER WAS A CONCUBINE!
THERES SCIENTIFIC PROOF THAT HER MOTHER WAS MIXED WITH NATIVE AFRICAN. THIS IS PROBABLY WHY THERES NO RECORDED DATA BUT THE BODY OF CLEOPATRA SISTER ( ARSINOE ) & MOTHER SKULL SAYS MIXED NATIVE AFRICAN.
GO TAKE THIS UP WITH THE EUROPEAN SCIENCE
___________
Cleopatra's mother 'was African'
Cleopatra, the last Egyptian Pharaoh, renowned for her beauty, was part African, says a BBC team which believes it has found her sister's tomb.
Queen Cleopatra was a descendant of Ptolemy, the Macedonian general who ruled Egypt after Alexander the Great.
But remains of the queen's sister Princess Arsinoe, found in Ephesus, Turkey, indicate that her mother had an "African" skeleton.
Experts have described the results as "a real sensation."
The discovery was made by Hilke Thuer of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.
"It is unique in the life of an archaeologist to find the tomb and the skeleton of a member of Ptolemaic dynasty," she said.
They were real people and not the semi-mythical figures portrayed by Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor
Archaeologist Neil Oliver
"That Arsinoe had an African mother is a real sensation which leads to a new insight on Cleopatra's family and the relationship of the sisters Cleopatra and Arsinoe.
cleo was not WEST AFRICAN
This reminds me of when Night at the Museum introduced the Egyptian Pharoah and people were upset that Rami Malek was cast in the role because "he wasn't Egyptian"... even though he was Egyptian. And it was because he was 'whiter' than people assumed Pharoah's would be.
In Egypt back then, the whiter the skin the more higher class and accepted you were also … only Americans are uneducated and don’t know history..
Then they were correct for say, that because Pharoah’s didn’t look like him.
@@The_Truth-some look like him and some are darker because it’s about the king was from lower or middle or apper Egypt but most of them look tan brown skin and Egyptian most are tan skin but some are darker and some are lighter and ramy he us coptic so he from old Egypt blood
@@Ahmed-h7y7i Egyptians are a dark brown skin people, the culture is African and we can find cultural continuity in Africa today. Prime example the hairstyles, burial practices, traditions. There is a reason why their hair come are distinct to African people and not the foreigners of the north. The majority of the artwork shows dark brown people. The original Egyptians didn’t to tan,
Coptics are not the original Egyptians.
@@The_Truth- Egyptian now and then mostly look tan skin because of the place of Egypt and hair style are a lot in this time even and it’s not about color but the first Egyptian are northern African not black but they’re dark Egyptian and white but most are lighter than brown people and darker than white but western African have great history
I love that you said African Americans is just American. It is a divisive way to refer to black Americans as African Americans in reference to their colour. In addition, it directly excluded any light skinned or white North African or Africans in general. Being white does not mean European and being African does not mean only black.
Such as Elon Musk.
@@LloydsofRochester I think musks ancestors where colonials. But I'm not sure.
Nevertheless, I think the argument here was that people leaving for thousands of years in Afruca are not necesseraly black. Just as Russians, Chinese, Indians and many more are actually Asians. Or germans, french and spanish people are european. Spanish people are not usually white.
@@DundG the first sentence is pretty racist... sounds like "I think the ancestors of the black kid in my class are/were criminals. But I'm not sure."
@@danielhopkins2277 Hmm, you have a point. I actually meant it neutrall, but failed to recognize the negative connotations of colonial. Settler is more appropiate I guess?
@@DundG yeah, fits better
As an Egyptian I’m glad people are finally talking about this it felt like people were stealing our culture and no one noticed or cared
Well hypocritical Arabs i Egypt didn’t care whenthe other 99 perventof non Greek and non Egyptian actors 0ayed cleaptra prior since they were ere WHITE🙄! Soo…
Im american but I believe keeping true to history. I hate all this race swapping and trying to erase history.
Welcome to the club. Americans have been stealing and twisting European stories and cultures for a while now. Swapping even historical figures for black people.
Unless you are 2000+ years old it is not your culture.
@@albertdittel8898 It's actully my culture as an Egyptian and it will be forever my culture. Argue with the wall and go cry about it
As you say, West Africans have their own rich, extensive culture. It would be nice if filmmakers would explore those stories and keep historical documentaries of other countries true to history.
Absolutely, I would love to learn something new. How about some real historical documentary about Africa
@@christinecastro7212 that is so true, I was in Ghana for a bit, and I walked through the Elmina castle, and learned about a very interesting past that unfortunately revolved around the slavetrade, but we don't have a lot of documentaries that adress these things. There is so much there that is so valuable in its potential to educate people about erased cultures, buildings and how their names became portugese and then dutch, so much happened in these places and we just act like that is not important. Imagine, an act in history that lasted 400 years has less impact in our history lessons than the second world war that masted 30 years. No one needs to point fingers or dig in old wounds, but maybe this understanding would create the space for people to just talk about this past.
@@corneliahanimann2173 I absolutely agree, so much history that could help us get a better world view on our past. Maybe with such education we could address those wounds and with open and honest discussion about the past we could try to heal them and stop looking backward and start looking forward. We learn so little about so much of world history it distorts our understanding of the facts. I agree we focus on such narrow aspects of history. Just what happens in Europe and North America like nothing else had any impact and isn’t important.
@@christinecastro7212 EXACTLY! There is so much content out there for documentaries, there are buildings, books, art, just very literal history. We could make a doc even just about the portugese era or the pastors that went there and slaughtered people that didn't convert to christianity. It's just disrespectful how there is a part in history where white people for 400 years were the bad guy and chose to make a profit from selling people. Many of the black cultures are all ready and open to forgive and move on, but white people like me, often don't even know what we're forgiven for, what the vibe really is. Winners don't just write history, they choose what history is talked about.
Nope only slavery.. That's the only thing West Africans are able to be associated with in the West..
As an Egyptian I thank you so much for speaking our mind cause they just can't steal other cultures and we are not allowed to tell our history truth matter and it's not about black and white as I have a dark skin tone but it's about culture appropriation and it's really ridiculous
As a Tunisian, watching this restored my faith in humanity! thank you for reacting to this and sharing your pov with us, it truly means a lot.
Eyy a fellow Tunisian ❤
Always keep your faith on humanity...but don't ever have faith on Hollywood and its woke culture!
Heey there ❤ me too i swear this is relieving to watch i feel like we’re very lucky they didn’t found about us or else 8000 years of history and civilisation will go down the drain 😂😂
As an Egyptian myself, I couldn't agree & relate more. Egyptian history is marvelous and frankly nobody gives a damn about American guilt syndrome, i don't feel angry or outraged by people with no culture or history trying to steal mine, all i feel towards them is pity, it's extremely sad and pathetic that someone has to subconsciously tell themselves a lie and live in it cause they are so desperate to find an identity.
and FYI our ex minister of Antiquities (yes we do have an entire ministry for our history) the greatest egyptologist of all time, prof. Zahi Hawas descredited the show,calling out the afrocentric movement and black washing, meh...just sad.
And one more note that i would like to add, being on the same continent doesn't mean you are the same, this is basically saying that i can get a random chinese actor to play ghandi, it's pure absurdity, 1 continent can have an insane amount of ethnisities, judging by the same logic, let's get another chinese dude to play stalin or putin (since the majority of russia is in asia) .
It is astonishing that people so influential like those of Netflix can commit so crassus mistake about basic history. Cleopatra was of greek ancestry, and not just that, egyptians are not black people. There are black people in Egypt, but most of them are of mediterranean type.
Calling Zahi Hawas "the greatest egyptologist of all time" is the greatest joke of all time.
👏👏👏👏
Most Americans smart ones dont care about the need for inclusion of black people into everything.
Add 10 ingredients to a Russian salad, at which point is it no longer a “Russian salad “?
Start with Ancient Pyramid builders 10,000 years ago then add invasions from Nubians, Assyrians, Greeks, Romans,Turks , Arabs, etc. All migrant and moving populations moving across continents only within the last 2000 years. Yet West Africans were in a box that never left in 10000 years. Nor did the people who built the pyramids leave Egypt. Invasion after Invasion and not one Egyptian government flee? All invasions from north, East and South making the West it’s most likely escape.
Being proud of your Macedonian ancestors is fine, but much truth lies in the pride. She was prostitute to power and barely and only notable achievement was that she learned a bit of her subjects language.
As an Egyptian i thank all the honest voices of african americans 🙏 you guys are amazing , cultured and respectful.
You look how I imagine Cleopatra looked.......beautiful 😊
you not egyptian
@@YOURFAVORITEDOOMGUYYou not African.
@@P.Whitestrake
you right
i.m gonna leave this here
HISTORICAL AND BIBLICAL FACT
HAM
The youngest son of Noah, born probably about ninety-six years before the Flood, and one of the eight persons to live through the Flood. He became the progenitor of the dark races-not the Blacks, but the Egyptians, Ethiopians, Libyans, and Canaanites (Gen.10.6-Gen.10.20).(Gen.9.20-Gen.9.27).The descendants of Ham (Ps.78.51; Ps.105.23; Ps.106.22). In these passages “Ham” is used as another name for Egypt as representing Ham’s principal descendants.A city of the Zuzites, east of the Jordan (Gen.14.5).
HISTORICAL FACT
639 AD
Summary. During the reign of Umar, the second caliph of the Arabs, Arab armies under the leadership of Amr ibn al-As invaded and conquered Egypt in 639 AD. Egypt was then a province of the Byzantine empire, ruled by a governor residing in Alexandria, the capital city.
HISTORICAL FACT
the word egypt means black kemet
Africa
The name Egypt comes from the Ancient Greek Aiguptos and Latin Ægyptus, and is also derived from hūt-kā-ptah (Temple of the Soul of Ptah). The ancient Egyptian name for the country was km.t (pronounced “kemet”), meaning “black land” likely for the fertile soils of the Nile valley. Today, Egypt’s official name is Jumhūrīyat Miṣr al-ʻArabīyah, or “Arab Republic of Egypt”.
Ancient Aethiopia, (Greek: Αἰθιοπία, romanized: Aithiopía; also known as Ethiopia) first appears as a geographical term in classical documents in reference to the upper Nile region of Sudan, as well as certain areas south of the Sahara. Its earliest mention is in the works of Homer: twice in the Iliad,[1] and three times in the Odyssey.[2] The Greek historian Herodotus "specifically" uses the appellation to refer to such parts of sub-Saharan Africa as were then known within the inhabitable world.[3]
Etymology
The Greek name Aithiopia (Αἰθιοπία, from Αἰθίοψ, Aithíops, 'an Ethiopian') is a compound derived of two Greek words: αἴθω, aíthō, 'I burn' + ὤψ, ṓps, 'face'. According to the Perseus Project, this designation properly translates in noun form as burnt-face and in adjectival form as red-brown.[4][5] As such, it was used as a vague term for dark-skinned populations since the time of Homer.[i][6] The term was applied to such peoples when within the range of observation of the ancient geographers, primarily in what was then Nubia (in ancient Sudan). With the expansion of geographical knowledge, the exonym successively extended to certain other areas below the Sahara. In classical antiquity, the term Africa (or 'Ancient Libya') did not refer to any part of sub-Saharan Africa, but instead to what is now known as the Maghreb and all the desert land west of the southern Nile river.
i would expect a greek person too get upset not a arab
HISTORICAL FACT AND BIBLICAL FACT
Who were the first to conquer Egypt?
TWO FACES OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR BABYLON
AS IT IS WRITTEN
Daniel 7
In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters.
2Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea.
3And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another.
4The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it.
5And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh.
6After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it.
7After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.
Daniel 8
The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia.
21And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king.
22Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power.
23And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.
24And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
25And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.
Greek and Roman Egypt
Following several centuries of Medo-Persian rule from 525 BCE, the Ancient Egyptian Empire finally fell under the conquest of Alexander the Great in the year 332 BCE.
who (ARABS) don't even look the people depicted on the egyptians walls or statues
yes cleopatra is white her father is white greek general
HISTORICAL FACT
Hellenistic period
The Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt began following Alexander the Great's expulsion of the MEDO-Persians from Egypt in 332 BCE. It was a strategic move so that he could then take over the MEDO-Persian Empire and move further into Asia, and after founding the new capital city of Alexandria and putting Hellenistic statesmen in charge, Alexander never returned to the country.
For several hundred years, until 30 BCE, Alexandria became an important commercial port city, dominating trade routes on the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas. The city also became a centre for Greek culture, but interestingly, the Greeks adopted many Ancient Egyptian traditions and religious customs. The Ptolemaic Kings named themselves as Pharaohs, and built a number of magnificent temples in honour of the Egyptian gods throughout their reign, including Kom Ombo and Edfu.
Civil war amongst the Ptolemies and the death of Cleopatra, the last reigning ruler of Ptolemaic Egypt, lead to the conquest and annexation of Egypt by the Roman Empire in 30 BCE.
the cast did a poor job indeed it's hollyweird
bassem said it best we are invaders and conquerors yes you are indeed
remember 639 AD
p.s.
i always wonder the lord god of my forefathers jesus likened ISRAEL too another Black Nation
Cush (Ethiopia)
as it written
Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith the LORD. Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir?
because the lord look into the future saw that egypt was gonna be conquered before a man wrote it down in history
REMEMBER 332 BC
REMEMBER 639 AD
@@YOURFAVORITEDOOMGUY I am
I'm African and when I watched Black Panther I was impressed about the level of detail they went into with the various African cultures because I have grown up around them and live next to them every day of my life I was even sort of impressed about how Andy Sirkis pulled off the Afrikaans accent even if it was a little exaggerated because its a hard accent to pull off.
1. Its a sci-fi future movie inspired by Africa taking place in a fictional kingdom not a documentary about a real place.
2. The people working on the movie clearly did a lot of research about the various cultures here to incorporate into the futuristic setting and costumes.
3. If it was a documentary meant to represent an actual African nation the American actors imitating African accents would come across as mocking even in though the skin colours match up.
4. Bassem is right even in the southern parts of Africa we don’t all look black in fact there are various kinds of black, coloured people, Indians, Chinese, Portuguese and white. In Egypt you will see Middle eastern skin tones, black and white. Cleopatra was known to be of Mediterranean decent thats not up for debate she may not have looked like Audrey Hepburn she live in Egypt she was probably properly tanned but at least Find someone greek to play the roll and try to find someone who can speak Egyptian or at least someone willing to learn.
5. the queens guard at the time where quite often Maasai who are quite tall black people and excellent warriors that would have been good to be in the "documentary" but you need to include majority middle eastern skin tones preferably actual Egyptians think Ravi Malek because thats what the world looked like then there are Egyptian and greek actors just look around its not that hard. This isn't about Americans and their history.
6. Most of the black population in America come from slave trade in the Caribbean the people had been living there for generations before they where even taken to America between the 1700-1800s and they came to the Caribbean from Western and Central Africa no where near Egypt. Africa is a huge continent with many countries and different cultures so though there was some overlap and movement It wasn't that often the likelihood is that you probably don’t have any or very little Egyptian heritage. It would be cool if Hollywood would talk about your Caribbean heritage. Rihanna is Barbadian you can hire her.
As an Egyptian, I want to thank you for telling the truth. You are truly a rational and educated person.
Secondly, I want to ask you, why did you say that you would not return to Egypt? What bothered you? I am sorry, brother. If you had a bad experience, like any other country, you will find the good and the bad.
Once again sorry for your experience and we hope you will visit Egypt again
Time to listen to the people who own that history! My favorite quote from this! I hope that good sir understands that not all Americans think like Hollywood
I find it odd that he uses this opportunity to tell African Americans (boxing them into west Africa)…their history. (Contradicts his philosophy- of can’t tell someone else their story through your lense)
His placement in itself acknowledges the Mobility of people groups and their history isn’t stationary! Some African Americans predate colonial discovery of America , some came as slaves. Going back 50 years, my ancestors were in Arkansas, 85years Jamaica, 87 years Cuba, 250 years Mali and Nigeria, 300years back Congo, 400 years Nilotic nomads in the Horn of Africa, all that movement in less then 500 years….500-10,000 quite possibly Egypt!!!! So get off your high horse dictating to others their placements in history based off your understandings. Seems hypocritical!
Own the history or ancient ancestors who invaded it stole the history.
Main point of this for me is that they are claiming this series to be a documentary and immediately failing pretty badly by claiming Cleopatra was black when she was not.
Previous movies where Cleopatra was played by a white woman were mostly fiction. Those never claimed to be historically accurate.
BUT... Elizabeth Taylor was probably closer to what Cleopatra looked like than this actress.
Also, I'd like to point out to everyone. Please don't blame the actors who are just doing a job they were hired to do. Blame the producers/people in charge.
it's just actors anyway if you don't make it a plot device what color they are - or use it as a gimmick.
in theatre/arts it used to be that you just had whoever play whoever. making a marketing point/thing that it's a movie of a thing done already but this time the actor is black/fat/asian/disabled whatever is just a gimmick. in this case too that the actor is black is just a gimmick same as if you had a ceasar movie with everyone with enormous teeth, it should just be insulting
@@lasskinn474 But in this case it shouldn't be a gimmick. BECAUSE it's supposed to be historically accurate.
And in this case it's even worse, BECAUSE they have people in the "documentary" saying stupid shit like "I don't care what they teach you in school. Cleopatra was black."
A documentary this is not.
@@H3llb0und the whole thing is a huge gimmick.
would anyone be talking about it without it? nope.
@@lasskinn474 You're right that most of us wouldn't even be aware of this "documentary" without this gimmick.
But this makes a mockery of serious documentaries and historians. Not to mention all Greek, Macedonian and Egyptian people who care about their history.
I say Netflix should not have it listed under Documentaries but as fiction.
@@H3llb0und Imagine their faces when you recommend Jennifer Anniston for the role, who is actually Greek. :)
small note on the Prince of Persia movie. It was a pretty prominent story at the time that the casting directors tried extremely hard to get Persians to audition, but none of them would in protest of the bastardization of their culture.
Because prince of persia story is fictional story…
If you want to make movie about a character that lived in history you have to be accurate af . Because thats documentary
I once had an Uber driver lecture me about how Jesus was black. When he asked me what I thought Jesus looked liked, I said my understanding was that he would have appeared Middle Eastern. He looked appalled and that ended the conversation.
Definitely Middle Eastern.
We all know that Jesus looked identical to Leonardo da Vinci's lover!
@@MissCaraMint Middel Eastern meaning anything from brown to white.
Jesus was literally a Jew living in the middle of the Middle East, how do they think this man looks Sub-Saharan African.
He is Russian
I am for actors acting - but when it comes to documentaries - you gotta use the ethnic group that the documentary is about. There's a few wonderful Egyptian actors/actresses, there's Yasmine Al Massri (her mother is Egyptian) and one of my favorites, Rami Malek.
And one funny thing most likely not related, I remember someone talking about "Night at the Museum" and they were talking about "how it was offensive that a white person was playing the pharaoh, And how they should have casted a proper actor! Anger!! RAGE!!!" The actor playing that character was Rami Malek - who is from California - but was born to Egyptian immigrants.
I'm not sure why everyone is leaving out Greece out of this discussion?
@@rossmelnyk1900
not everybody ...
I'm venezuelan, but i live in the US. I came here when i was 9 (I'm 40 now). My skin is very white, but i never thought about it really until i came to this country, because venezuelans come in all shades and no one really cares down there. One time i was in a room full of Mexican Americans in highschool, and they were all telling me i wasn't Hispanic because my skin is white, but i was the only one in the room that spoke Spanish and actually came from a Hispanic country. So i wasn't the right color to be Hispanic. Meanwhile, i would have my white and black friends insisting that i wasn't white because i speak Spanish, but my skin is literally very white. I have a friend currently who is from Dominican republic, he is black and his story is very similar to mine. He told me when he came here as a child he had people telling her wasn't black because he spoke Spanish. My friend is very black, and we had a good laugh about the similarities in our stories. Americans are so confused about their identities.
I've worked with Hondurans darker than almost all "Blacks" I've ever known. It's kinda sad but funny at the same time.
I’ve had people argue with me about being American because I have Asian features ( my mom is Japanese) but I’ve only ever lived in the US. Apparently Americans can’t look Asian 🤷♀️🤦♀️
Americans get distracted by their elite to different directions.. colour/ Gender/ religion.. so they forget about the health care system/ inflation/ homeless disaster/ addiction/ low quality of education/ wars and defence budgets/ the gigantic gab between the rich people and poor people
They're not confused they don't know geography 😑😑😑
I am embarrassed that a lot of Americans are so limited in their thinking. Not all of us are, I promise 😅.
As an Arab I am glad you done this video and how you explained historical fact away from Black and White , RESPECT!
Did the Arabs build the pyramids?
Dr. Bassem Youssef is absolutely right. I'm deeply sorry for the actress playing the role, and why is no one talking about who produced this "documentary" without doing their homework. They should take responsibility for this. Anyway, thank you for a honest reaction.
Oh trust me, A lot of people are talking about who produced this movie.
And not just because of this movie. (it was produced by Jada Pinkett Smith)
The director herself said that her mother told her “I don’t care what they tell you in school, cleopatra was black”
@@brotherkhrayn3525 so she's trying to put this on her mother...that's very immature...it's unfortunate it has come to this...if not a documentary, I would think another way, however, now that I've been told it's not just a movie/story, I agree..this shouldn't have made it off the "cut room" floor..
When i didn't do my homework, i got 0, when they didn't do their their homework, they got a netflix show
@@nguyenduc4255 oh snap 😄
I respect and am enlightened by that gentleman's respectful expression of his cultures proti
He's a doctor chirurgien
the thing you said about morocco and egypt is so true, and i can say it’s the same thing here in my country (algeria) which is also a north african country. the skin color pallette is CRAZY diverse, fair skinned kabyles, dark skinned tuaregs, brown skinned chaouis and so many more yet if you ask them about their “origin” per say they will all reply with “algerian”.
i remember when i was first exposed to this racial categorisation among americans (funnily enough it was on twitter lmao) i was so so shocked.
Algerians are north africans, they are more" white "than black. I mean , they are not negroids. If you take a blood dna test to Algerians you will see that they are "europiod" race. And in Marocoo or Algeria they call black algerians "karloush" it's like an insult to black africans. One thing should be understood - subsaharian africans looks just like african americans, and north africans looks like arabs , and arabs are white.
@@vernehetzel5411 Does anyone (except Americans) still subscribe to these archaic ideas of "race" you're talking about here?
People in Africa don't have just one look.
@@freudianslippers6567 Actually i think Americans have their own idea of "races" because for them white is very close group. While in Europe it's quite a broad group that included not only northern Europeans but also all of Mediterranean, middle east and India. If you look at people there that's quite a big pallet. It's very tied to Indo-European culture since the flow of people also caused a flow of culture and vice-versa.
As European i heard many derogatory names for people from different regions, but they were still considered white. The whole idea that white means only pale Nordic is only in US, and never existed outside of it.
@@vernehetzel5411 I'm North Moroccan, Amazigh. The whitest people in North Africa are of the pure Natives berbers decsents..
The ones who's their ancestors got mixed with Arab are darker... And you saying Arab are White is soo ridicolious. Millon dollar go Find me one single native Arab from Arabia pinsuela who's white, or/and have fair hair/colored eyes .
STOP BRINING YOUR ARABicrap into every North African topic. Stop claimng what you are Not.
Arab were never been White. LEVANTS, EGYPTIANS, NORTH AFRICA NS AMAZIGH ARE WERE NEVER BEEN ARAB.
And up until the 90’s and PC culture black people would say they were American because the word African American wasn’t used outside of racist black Marxist groups before that.
So refreshing to hear your informed and intelligent commentary!
For me this just shows how America is closed out of the rest of the world.
Americans choose to remain ignorant about the rest of the world
How so??
It's not Americans, it's the African Americans, amd not even the majority of them
@@johnygoodman6659 No, all Americans across the board are ignorant but the black ones in particular have such a complex about their sad history that they have to steal parts of other people's history to make themselves feel better about being slaves.
Actually you are wrong. Most Americans do not agree with this portrayal of Cleopatra, and that includes the AA community here. They are all over You Tube talking about it. America is a whole mixing pot as well, and we all don't think the same. There are a lot of AA who agree with the Egyptian guy.
Unfortunately I feel many black people cling to the idea that our people originated from Egypt because there is such a lack of ancestral history for many African Americans and they hold onto what little information (even inaccurate information) they have to go off of and run with it because there’s comfort in the idea of establishing an “identity”. I do recommend everyone do a deep drive in West African history and pick up a book to inform themselves. The history is JUST as interesting.
I agree I think a lot of black people are having issues and insecurities. The signs is all there.
Well, Afrocentrism is based on their insecurity & inferiority complex. Ancient Egypt is seen as the most advanced culture in the ancient world. To cope with their sense of inferiority & insecurity, Afrocentrist activists claim Egypt as their land & Ancient Egyptian culture as their culture.
@@P.Whitestrakelie blk people are the orginal peoplenof africa
@@P.Whitestrakewhy dont you wine to white people that spread eurocentric idea all ober the place
@@P.Whitestrake But at Cleopatra's time, ancient Egypt wasn't the most advanced - there were many African empires that were further advanced at that time.
The Egyptian reaction is perfectly understandable as it's literally impossible not to see this issue without suspecting the hand of Afrocentric ideology. The map of Africa doesn't stop at Egypt and this crazy fixation is unwarranted: it only takes away from and can never add onto any respect the world has for Afr-Am's.
Youssef: "...it's not about white and black...the way that Americans talk about it". I can't agree more as most people aren’t thinking about skin colour till Americans enter the room..
Blks didnt make it
@@hbsupreme1499 boo hoo that doesn’t mean you get to claim culture that doesn’t belong to you. How about ‘African’ Americans claim their European ancestry because you share more in common with them than you do Egyptians.
America is a continent you must mean the US.
@@ileanahernandez1709 nope you are talking nonsense. “Americans” is a demonym for those people who come from the US 🙄. 100% fact !! Petty fool.
Egyptologist here! I don't know of any Egyptologist or Archaeologist who agrees with the Afrocentrism movement. Ancient Egypt was not a black sub-saharan civilization. The ancient Egyptians were the ancestors of the modern Egyptians. The influence of the Libyans, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs and Turks on the Egyptian gene pool is overestimated. The number of immigrants and conquerors has always been small in relation to the population of Egypt as a whole. In addition, the conquerors stayed mainly in cities, were traders, military, rulers, but did not mix with the local rural population of peasants. Conquerors, warriors, and traders do not become "Fellahin". However, before industrialization, the population of Egypt always consisted of more than 90 percent farmers! They have village traditions that go back thousands of years. Their ancestors were the builders of pyramids and temples. So all credits go to the Egyptians and nobody else. What Black US-Americans do is cultural appropriation and identity theft.
Of course you wouldn’t, you were taught by institution whose roots have racial biases. And lie as if we don’t see a clear indication that they were indigenous Africans and the people we see today is the result of invasion. They do nit stem from ancient Egyptians. And “Afrocentrism” is Eurocentric construct when they don’t agree with evidence presented to them, because they can’t admit the African origins of Egypt. Prime example Cheik Diop who debated Egyptologist and they couldn’t rebuttal him.
Also if your an “Egyptologist” you would know Coptic Egyptians today have closest exact DNA of ancient Egyptians and still speak the Egyptian language!
Invaders Invaders Invaders. Rape and pillage. Y'all game been over. People know the truth. The jig is up
OMG thank you! I'm Greek and I thank you sooo much for acknowledging Cleopatra's "greekness"...if it was a film I wouldn't care (Troy was crap) if it was a cartoon I wouldn't care but a "docuseries" should be more accurate!
Macedonian is not Greek
@@colberthunter12 history, archeology and linguistics (science) say otherwise. If you disagree take it up with them because I'm not getting into this conversation here
Curious, why was "Troy" crap?
@@blackknight8394 I had to read the original at school (I hated it at the time 😵💫) so I was all hyped for the movie, Imagine my disappointment when I realised that in the film they had left out sooooo much important stuff that made the epoch so awesome and the story so great. the dialogues in the original were really really good but left out in the film.
@@colberthunter12 it was then , pick up a book there mr limited.
No. Kemet, literally the "Black Land" The name derived from the colour of the rich and fertile black soil which was due to the annually occurring Nile inundation. So Kemet was the cultivated area along the Nile valley. The deserts on either side of the Nile were called Desheret, the "Red Land" (desher meant "red"), after the reddish colour of the desert sand.
Exactly! Finally someone said it.
Using their logic, the Egyptians from the desert areas had red skin and Natives from Greenland have green skin. Egypt had many different names including KEMET. They had so many names for Egypt. The name Egypt came from a Greek pronunciation of a later name for Egypt connected to an Egyptian god.
@@QUINTUSMAXIMUSand the icelanders are white walkers
We had nothing to do with North African countries as American Blacks and that's perfectly fine. We have made many valuable contributions, both credited and uncredited in the United States.
Correct.
Very veeeeeeery true.
I agree with you 100% however I find it strange many black Americans say "we" did this or that. I'm sorry but individuals did those things. I don't say as a white person with Swedish heritage "we" invented dynamite. Alfred Nobel did, "we" didn't. its just strange to me
Well that’s a very categorical as a comment .. because egypt is more like north east of africa which is different North African countries located in the west staring from Algeria morocco mauritania and the limit is very thin in senegal ..
@@rigg4146 Thank you! I would say it’s because many of us have a communal pride when we see or read about individuals within our American Black lineage group accomplish wonderful goals in spite of the the government-sanctioned chattel enslavement, Jim Crow laws and policies , under-education/miseducation and redlining imposed upon as a group. It’s a different mentality here in the United States as it relates to ADOS aka American Descendants of Slavery or American Blacks.
I learnt more from Assassin's Creed Origins than anything the History Channel or this Cleopatra "Documentary" has put out. This is when game developers get PASSIONATE about a subject matter and go wild with historical accuracy.
Ofc the Assassin killing stuff is for our entertainment :)
Video games TEACH and are a more powerful medium of education if done correctly.
They used the map of assassin's creed unity in an university I believe. It's been years so I don't fully remember the story
They also had Egyptians on the team I believe
11:25 "Kemet" does mean "black land" as you said, but most Egyptologists agree that this referred to the fertile land, that the soil was so rich in silt and clay that it was black.
15:57 A few good picks would be Rami Malek and the late Omar Sharif. Another pick (though exclusive to the MENA region) is Adel Imam.
Omar Sharif. My mother always talked about him.
Rami malek was who i thought of. I am part arabic and i look more indianish
I think the Egyptian hit the nail squarely on the head when he said that he didn't care one way or another about the actors race/ethnicity while portraying a fictional character, but when it's historical he wanted it as accurate as possible. After all Morgan Freeman did a great job in 'The Shawshank Redemption' even though in the fictional story his character was white. Also whoever said it didn't matter in plays but it does in movies was also correct. As retired USAF, in the early 1980's I was stationed in the Philippines and saw the play 'Amadeus' (before the movie came out). All the actors were Filipino playing white Austrians, including Mozart, speaking English not German, and they did a fantastic acting job, 5 minutes into the play I only saw Austrians not Filipinos in white wigs. While Mozart is a historical figure it was a fictional story and a play. But I was happy when the movie came out that they tried to make the fictional story as historically accurate as possible. Another example in the play 'Hamilton' I think it's alright for a racially diverse cast but if they make a documentary about Hamilton, I want the actors to be more accurate in their racial depiction..
You should see the trailer for this Cleopatra documentary there's literally a woman in it who says my grandmother told me I don't care what they teach you Cleopatra was black
WTF LOL
@@MrLboydReacts It's true, totally ridiculous.
I second that ... you should really watch the trailer ... I mean, for commentary purposes, not that it has much value otherwise :D
@@MrLboydReacts You have to watch the trailer and see how a “documentary” was researched, hilarious
See, grandma cannot be contradicted!
I agree with you 💯. When it comes to history, you respect it's accurate story. Yourssef was right and had every right to be upset. Out of all the African queens, why pick one of most well researched and well known in history. What bothers me about this is as black people (especially in America) we know what it is like when other people who are not us tell our stories. They made either cartoonishly insult or water down the accuracy of black people living in America. So why is it okay to do that to others?
Not going to lie I'd watch a movie with the rock as Gandi, Ryan gosling as barrack Obama and Denzil Washington as trump woopie gold berg as queen Elizbeth the second. It would make a great comedy set in the civilizations game universe.
Bro lets spam netflix's social media with this ideas
How about just a civilization parody movie between five different rulers with no idea what they're doing.
This story as a parallel universe would be dope and would probably be successful.
This is so stupid. So you think Gandhi is going to rock bottom the British and Gove the oeoples elbow😂 wait... that's actually great 😮
I would love to see all of this. Especially Denzel playing Trump.😅
You are 100% correct. For the rest of the world almost every skin shade lighter than light brown is white. And we do not associate skin color with culture, heritage, or identity, for us it’s just a skin color.
It’s a North African and South American culture that Americans doesn’t understand. They think a continent is a whole and everyone is the same. They doesn’t even understand that south European are nothing like Scandinavians 🤣 imagine saying Spaniard and Swedish has to be the same because both Europeans 🤣
@@gmailyou367 well yeah south europens have prety mutc hthe same skin tone as ythe nordics but they have different eyes and hair colors along with a different nose shape
That Egyptian guy DOMINATED !!!
Well Done Egyptian Brothers! 🇬🇷🤝🇪🇬
And thank you Sir for making this video! West Africans have an ABSOLUTELY FASCINATING History of their own!!! The Racist thing that is happening is that nobody is recreating THEIR STORIES !!!! Enough is Enough!
Netflix produced Queen Cleopatra is called a documentary, which is the problem, here. And it's part of their Black Queens series.
Thank you for this video! Long time viewer, and I appreciate hearing your perspective on this issue. I agree. I'm also an American living outside of the country, aware of international norms relating to issues of race and ethnicity. Many Americans are under the spell of a strange ideology and have very limited, radical beliefs and ideas. Owen's confidence in his illogical ideas, unfortunately, typifies the American stereotype. I appreciate Youssef's coherent arguments on the topic - as well as yours!
Mel Gibson still managed to direct a movie (Apocalypto) with no name, but historically accurate personages, and still made an incredibly moving picture.
@@Joni_Tarvainen he is talking about personages, like in people I think. Not really sure since I've not seen it in a very long time but they have a indigenous cast from what I remember, which is what personages means, people in play or what not.
@@Bubajumba Aah okay, apologies I misunderstood the comment 🙏
Yes, on that aspect Mel nailed it, even though I kinda remember them speaking Mayan even though it was depicting Aztecs (or vice versa). The plot of the movie was inaccurate but I respect the effort a lot.
@cuddlekins111 yes. The entire cast are indigenous folk.
@@Joni_Tarvainenit was a movie, not a documentary.
@@hazelhadley-britt6396 I know, I never claimed it was a documentary. I misunderstood the comment as I stated previously.
I honestly think they did this on purpose to get oeople mad. Like, there is actual Pharaohs that were black and could've made a much better story than cleopatra. Like Piye, who literally conquered Egypt and made his own dynasty.
But man bad tho.
Nubian and Kushite Dynasties. Even Ramses 3 and Pentawer is half black.
Exactly!
Not that I dislike Cleopatra's history but the 25th Dynasty is so much more interesting as well. This rise of Nubia who was both a foreign kingdom but itself also heavily Egyptian in that it followed the same gods and spoke Egyptian to take the Kingdom to begin with was massive achievement but they also started building pyramids again which hadn't been done at this point in Egypt for almost a thousand years.
Nice observation.
The issue wasn't the actress who played Cleopatra, the issue was the vhole narration of the "documentary"
If everyone was like you, the world would be a better place. I love how you distill everything down to the truth and mostly without any bias. I applaud you for being a human of reason and understanding. I truly wish you could have a larger platform so you could teach others how to see the world around them in the way that you do. You don't have to agree but you should be able to understand.
I find it very sad and also infuriating that Netflix is trying to erase a culture. If this weren't a documentary, there really wouldn't be much of a problem, but they're clearly trying to re-write history. I'm of Greek-Macedonian descent, so I find this offensive from my end as well. I completely agree with the Egyptian gentleman's points, this is very upsetting that Netflix would move ahead with this documentary.
None of the 'experts' had expertise in Egypt, Egyptian history, or archaeology. It is as accurate a documentary as those flat earth and alien building pyramid 'docos'
Thank you for your open-mindedness and respect for other cultures ! I proud to be (north)african and mediterranean and I am furious of people who want to deny me my "Africanity" based on my skin colour. And also, I absolutely agree with you on refusing to use "Afro American" designation, I have always thought it is absurd and ridiculous as no one calls the "white" Americans "Euro American", I am not Amercian and not really familiar with the american culture, but I find that appellation reductive and outdated.
Sure they do, Americans are obsessed with an imaginary European culture they deem themselves to belong to even though most have never even left the country.
There is Irish_Americans, Scottish_Americans, Italian_Americans, Polish_Americans, etc….
and not so many who claim to be German_Americans besides once you say you are German, they tell you they are as well, but once you switch languages it is suddenly the great-grandmother on the father‘s side way back, and they don‘t even know the region, let alone the place they came from.
It‘s all bogus anyway….you belong to the culture you grew up in and you can be inspired if you have learned to understand any other cultures while learning a new language and/or traveling. That‘s appreciation, not belonging.
@@lynnm6413 yeah they only claim the ‘trendy’ or ‘cool’ ones 🤮. I’m Scottish and their arrogance in this regard boils my blood. There are first generation Indian Sikh immigrants who know more about what it is to be Scottish than they do.
@@boxtradums0073 that's true!
I fell in love with Scotland on my 2 week trip when I was 14, first time out on my own, visiting my pen pal and her family in Perth Shire...
But I'd never claim to be Scottish, especially now that the SNP has forgotten what a woman is!
Heartfelt Greetings from Northern Germany
You are on point brother, as a darker Moroccan I never really thought about my skin color till I came to the US. Before that I was just a Moroccan. In Morocco as the video suggest, you will find a rainbow going on! From black all the way to people who are white with blue or green eyes! But we are all Moroccans!!
The term Kemet (black land) didn't refer to race--it's a literal reference to the black soil found in the Nile river valley, which made the land habitable. Also, ironically, Gal Gadot would fit the demographics better than most modern Egyptians, as Ashkenazi Jews are around 40% Semitic and 60% European, which would fit Cleopatra pretty well (she lived hundreds of years prior to the Arab expansion). It's politically incendiary to have her in the role (Egyptians still haven't forgiven the Israelis for the absolute curb-stompings that they delivered them in 48, 67, and 73), but she would otherwise fit the part.
And, he is 100% right that the Hebrews didn't build the pyramids. They Hebrews were enslaved by Egypt during their period of expansion around 1300BC, where they expanded north through Canaan, but this was agricultural. The work on the pyramids was actually a form of taxation, where citizens would dedicate a certain amount of time each year to work on one as a civic project.
I cant imagine a jew doing manual work ngl 😂
@@woahblackbettybamalam That's an antisemitic trope that goes back to the time period between the Middle Ages and the 19th century, when Jewish people in Europe were only allowed to do work that had to do with money, trade, administration, medicine or art and weren't allowed to join trade guilds. That has nothing to do with the ancient Hebrews.
@@woahblackbettybamalam as someone of Jewish decent, can confirm manual labour just isn't in our DNA 😂
I can go in DNA, scripture & historical fact starting with Greek historians on how they described the Egyptians in their time with woolly hair!
(Yahusha ) talking to the Original Israelites!
Revelation 2:9
9 I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.
(Yahusha ) talking to the Jewish people
Revelation 3:9
9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.
_______________________________
If Ashkenazi Jews or around 40% Semitic & 60% European. Can you please explain the genealogy Genesis 10:3, which say Ashkenazi is Japheth ( European )?
Genesis 10:2-3
2 The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.
3 And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah.
Genesis 10:6 ( Ham - Hametic ( African ) you will find mizrhim the original so called Egyptian.
Genesis 10:6
6 And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan.
______________________
KEMET means black land as in the people, they lied & said it means the soil lol. If the soil in Egypt the soil is different shades of brown/black like the people!
Genesis 10:6
6 And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan.
They are all different shades of brown/black but are all Bloodline African!
The Israelites was enslaved to work on the pyramids it’s on the hieroglyphs.
_____________________
Cleopatra is Macedonian/Greek 100% from her dads side, for a family that are incest which I agree why all of a sudden there’s no written records of her grandmother ( concubine ) & her mother?
I’m not saying she as black in her but anything to do with so called black people they hide it just like they try in Egypt!
__________________
IM NOT SAYING THIS THE SCIENTISTS ARE, IF YOU ARE A SCIENTISTS ENLIGHTEN ME WITH FACTS & NOT EMPTY WORDS
Cleopatra's mother 'was African'
Cleopatra, the last Egyptian Pharaoh, renowned for her beauty, was part African, says a BBC team which believes it has found her sister's tomb.
Queen Cleopatra was a descendant of Ptolemy, the Macedonian general who ruled Egypt after Alexander the Great.
But remains of the queen's sister Princess Arsinoe, found in Ephesus, Turkey, indicate that her mother had an "African" skeleton.
Experts have described the results as "a real sensation."
The discovery was made by Hilke Thuer of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.
"It is unique in the life of an archaeologist to find the tomb and the skeleton of a member of Ptolemaic dynasty," she said.
They were real people and not the semi-mythical figures portrayed by Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor
Archaeologist Neil Oliver
"That Arsinoe had an African mother is a real sensation which leads to a new insight on Cleopatra's family and the relationship of the sisters Cleopatra and Arsinoe.
TRUE SAINTS ARE WATCHING & SEE ALL LIES
Wasn’t Jesus a Jew and a carpenter?
I would love to provide my perspective on this issue, as a north african (tunisia) but also as an external party to the western world :
Make up has always been used to change the tan of the actor or actoress to match what the director has to portray. This is also used in theatre and festival. The only big exception is the color black. This is not because black people are extra sensitive, but rather mainly due to the history of that practice. In the past hollywood and cartoons used this as a method to ridicule and make fun of black people. The context is the most important part.
Now in this situation, there has been a massive push to erase the african cultures and most importantly, the diversity within this continent. So many theories and miss information are being spread and pushed about us to the world. To cite just few examples : we are technologically behind by 50-60 years (do we have internet), all africans are black and they are the same type of black, arabs use camels to travel. africa is just a sahara, we are not educated and we don't know what happens outside our countries. these are just small examples and I'm aware that they are not spread to the same degree. With this context in mind, you can understand how africans and especially egyptians can take offense in the missrepresentation of their history in a "DOCUMENTARY".
Side note : to anyone who is not aware, Cleopatra is greek/maceddonian. And the people she was ruling are tanned /white (with so many varying degrees, going from super white to a very dark tan and there were also black people as well (with varying ethnicities). And also Jesus was not black and he was not super white either, he was just a tanned person like the rest of the middle east.
They cast Jodie Turner-Smith to play Anne Boleyn who was definitely white, like you said a fictional character can be any race, nationality or ethnicity, but period pieces should have people that are appropriate for the role to play them.
Respect for you being proud of who you really are. Your west African ancestors were great people and had their own civilization that deserve the attention.
I love this Egyptian man. He is absolutely correct. His people ARE being erased on multiple fronts. I hear him.
The Egyptian guy is 100% right, we in the UK had a similar thing happen when a black actress played Henry 8ths wife Anne Boleyn, I'm all for any actor can play any role but historical figures are sacrosanct, no one has the right to appropriate another culture/history. I really would love to see a white person or someone of another race play MLK or Mandela, and watch them freak out and meltdown. Then maybe they'll see how others feel when they do it to them. I hate the hypocrisy and entitlement and the way they ignore other people and their feelings because theirs are always more important, it's sickening.
That’s how I feel lmao, imagine if they completely rebooted the black panther movies with a white guy in the main role, they would fucking flip.
Ever try breaking it to someone that Wakanda doesn’t exist? I mean, I’m all for Zumunda pride tho 😂
Wow! White people have stolen, lied, and robbed black people of their culture. White people have been appropriating cultures in movies for years and no one said a word. There are much bigger lies to focus on than Cleopatra. Let's start by removing images of white Jesus.
The Egyptian guy is 100% wrong, the culture of Ancient Egypt is not his culture;
plus there is no such thing as cultural appropriation, culture is to be shared;
and anybody has the right to do a movie about Cleopatra, as bad as it may end up; nobody forces him to watch, or prevents him of making a better one
@@bogdanpopescu1401
Then don't call it a documentary when you're not basing it on factual information.
Khemet, "the black earth", is reference to the strip of land made fertile by the black silt deposited by the annual flooding of the Nile,
Until the Aswan dam was build.
My only issue with cartoons like The Little Mermaid is that there is already an established character. There is nothing wrong with having a black mermaid but I feel it would be much better if she had her own story.
Yup, same. For fictional work, the issue is more of respect and honoring of the original work. Can nothing be change? No, there can be. But not if they change and stomp on a crucial aspect of the character.
In little mermaid? The race is not essential, but is a sign of creative poverty that they cannot tell an original story of a black mermaid, instead of hijacking an established character. Plain lazy and creatively bankrupt.
Well...technically the little mermaid was technically green to begin with and Disney made her white, but I think the character was public domain by then.
Yes, and maybe a black prince to hook up with.
Agreed. I would love to see an actual black Disney princess, instead of some blackwashed hand me down from europian folklore. Why not put the stories of Anansi on the big screen for example? Amazing fairy tales from west-african, so obviously it'll need an all black cast. No blackwashing needed. Sadly they're either too ignorant or too superficial to take a chance on some REAL progressive filmmaking.
They dont want to make new stories they want to make money nothing else really matters to them.
_"You don't have to take someone else's culture to make yourself feel better."_ 19:15
Once again, Mr. L. Boyd is spitting facts (and flexing his education while he does it). This "reaction" video of his is so based, its pH level must be greater than 13. I want to climb through the monitor screen and shake his hand.
Great take as always dear sir ! As a Moroccan It's always funny when I hear Americans referring to a whole continent as black people or Africans, there's more ethnic and cultural diversity in a single country like Nigeria than both American continents, and don't even get me started about how all Africans aren't dark skinned and those who are dark skinned ( the majority ) are far from being the same ethnicity ...
@@samuelbaah7017 you realize most light skinned Nigerians who are not in fact Muslims are from eastern Nigeria yeah?
U are not a Moor u are an Arab get it tge truth hurt
When you say Moroccan, do you mean or include the I degenous Black Moroccan Berbers as well?
@@IEXECUTIVE yes the black there that ur media doesn't show are the real moore not arabs 😂😂
@@samuelbaah7017 blacks come from south of the Sahara, not north. North are olive skinned. You can tell you're not from the area.
My brother in christ. you are completely right.
I loved the part you mentioned mansa musah, and specifically where you acknowledge the difference between praising West African Culture (which you americans are so proud yet forgetful) and how africa, has, infact, more than just that.
I think it’s the fact that this is presented as a documentary. Films are different and actually I’m Persian/Iranian and no Iranian I know including me cared that the actor wasn’t Iranian. I think mostly people were excited about a story based on Persia/Iran.
Also how offensive to assume all of Africa as one entity and not take into account how there are different cultures and ethnicities within Africa.
i am an Egyptian and I like your fairness and objectivity this gives us hope that there are a lot of African Americans who understand this
Yet I see alot of you people attcaking us
@@hbsupreme1499 um maybe because yall are black washing their history. I would be pretty piss too
As a longtime follower of your channels - this is why I'm here! Enlightened, honest, and cultured reactions and opinions. Thank you man, and not saying this because I'm from Egypt.
As italian I was pissed off about how they managed Rome history too. I don't give a damn about skin colors, actually. Speaking for myself, I'm blonde with blue eyes and pale like a newspaper, who cares... but what made me scream was the sloppines of the representation of the most iconic roman period.
Ceasar looked like a highschool bully, Marcantonio (the translation Mark Anthony hurts me so much...) was treated like a dumb and Octavian, my beloved Ottaviano, one of the greatest leader in western history, was painted like a psycho.
Oh yeah, how about Cleopatra making fool of Cicerone (Cicero), the smartest lawyer, statesman and philosopher in the entire Rome?
I was surprised my country didn't sued Netflix too!
If I'm not mistaken, Kemet means "black land" refering to the fertile soil in the language of the egytians themselves and "the land of the burnt faces" is Ethiopia(not modern day but the ancient location) in either greek or a language older than that.
I also like you're vieuw on black Amercans vs "African" Americans, As an Irishman myself it always infuriates me when Americans claim to be from Irland so I can only imagin what an African person feels when Americans use African(a much bigger geographical location) never even thought about that.
also, ofc the guy defending the show in this intervieuw is another American sticking his nose in the rest of the worlds buisness
I’m a black woman and every time I hear “you’re African American” it infuriates me. No, sir/ma’am I am not. That would be like also saying I’m Scottish-American (which I am not. Ancestry sure but not from Scotland). I don’t know why it became like that. I was taught that (insert country here”)-American means you are FROM said country and became an American citizen. Still crazy if you think about it but that’s what I was taught. Then it became all black people are Africans.
As Egyptian I just want to thank you so much ❤️❤️❤️
U are not Egyptian u are an Arabian get ur fact well bro
@@samuelbaah7017 you are foreigner don't you EVER tell me what I am or what is my history, and FYI the ministry of tourism and antiques just made a statement about Cleopatra and they confirmed she Is Greek, also confirmed that based on DNA tests done on ancient Egyptians mummies that they are directly linked to the modern Egyptians and that they don't have sub Saharan Africa or west Africa features, so you can f off and stop associating yourself with my ancestors
@samuelbaah7017 no we are real Egyptians we did make DNA tests and confirmed the ancient Egyptians ancestory we share the same DNA in the mummies from old kingdom🎉❤
@@Ksd-i4x where did u made the DNA😂😂😂
@@Ksd-i4x 😂😂😂😂😂
As an Egyptian, Your reaction calmed me so much! I mean black Americans are mad at Elvis for the leg shaking that he didn’t give them credit for and just imagine how would that make us Egyptians feel when they are not just claiming our heritage, No they are saying that we are not even real Egyptians! Black American made a unique culture that we even here in Egypt imitate and they should be proud of their own culture and not just make up stuff to make themselves feel better! Thank you again for being true to your own opinion, it means all lot, Salute!
But you are not Egyptian. You are the descendant of Arab invaders
U are not Egyptian bro u are an Arabic who invade a country to introduce that evil religion
No is saying you are not real Egyptians. You’re just not a descendant of the ancient original Egyptians who started Egyptian culture. They were black Africans.
@@The_Truth- No they weren’t, According to black people’s fantasy every thing started with black people and all civilization started with black people and that is no different than what white people have tried to say. Egyptians was never black nor were white just set foot in Egypt then make your claim. Black people ruled Egypt for sure but they were Nubians from Kush kingdom as did white people from greece as did Persians from Persia so it was a fucking melting pot and that was just the rulers of Egypt but Egyptian people never went anywhere, We are not some native American tribes that disease killed us nearly all, We lived in the same land by nile since thousands of years and we still have the same culture even after becoming Muslim and Christian and we still have many words from our ancient language that we still use and we are 120 Million Egyptian! Plus being African doesn’t mean you are black. Arabs, Indians, Chinese and most Russians are all Asian and look how different they all look alike!
They drew themselves on the tombs and walls. Look at the hairstyles, let be honest. This was a black African civilization, that later became mixed. I don’t even think you realize how your biases is really affecting you. Why would you take the word of someone when the evidence says the total opposite. Are you going to believe your eyes or believe the lies of people with racial biases against dark skinned people?
Thank goodness someone actually speaking the facts and is KNOWLEDGABLE. It's funny how they used "Prince of Persia" as an example when it came from a DAMN video game vs historical fact.
The thing about the little mermaid (and i get it, it is a fictional character) the fairytale was written by Hans Christian Andersen, a Danish author, one of the most (if not the most) famous children's author from Denmark. they have a sculpture of her in Kopenhagen, so I think it's safe to say it's near and dear to them. And just changing the story like that is a bit hurtful for them.
Americans have been stealing stories from European cultures and swapping the characters into black ones for a long time. America should have been called out for their racism long ago.
original disney Little Mermaid was already quite far from original story. I say it was more "inspired" than true to canon
I can even feel that and get angry when them fuck it up with Tolkien as a fan...
Imagine when is ur own culture and the history of ur people....
@@ipocrita4825 The same with most of the Grimms fairytales...
@@stirbjoernwesterhever6223 it's not bad, fairytales are meant to be telled diffirently in my opinion! They're endless source of imagination
Very impressed Mr. Boyd! Do what they want with cartoons, theatre productions etc., but don't misrepresent history in documentaries. You made some great points sir
Thank you, this was extremely informative!
As someone who's lost his heritage, I totally understand Youssef's points of needing to protect any historical facts/heritage one can from being rewritten/reclaimed because someone feels it's not representative enough.
Mr.L.. I have watched a few of your videos and I am absolutely amazed at this video... I never realized how intelligent, educated, knowledgable and articulate you are. Kudos.
Egyptians have gotten the short end of the stick out of these various theories. Some of the first Egyptologists debated over various race theories as well as the idea of modern Egyptians being invaders or water-downed descendants. Then you have the ancient alien theorists who think most of Ancient Egyptian wonders were made by aliens not Egyptians. There's the notion that pyramids were built by Jews/Hebrews even that they were Joseph's granaries. It's not helped that some Zionists believe in a Greater Israel that stretches to the Nile. Ancient Civilization theorists think Atlanteans built the Pyramids not the Egyptians. And you have Afrocentrists claiming the legacy of Ancient Egypt while attacking Egyptians online and in person calling them invaders. No wonder Egyptians are so annoyed with all this.
Kemet means the land of the black soil
As an Egyptian, i wanted to say thank you for the video! ♥️
thank you so much for voicing out that
as an Egyptian, Bassem Youssef's reply has explained all that what we want to say
Egypt is for Egyptians
Brave as hell to say that most blacks have nothing to do with Egypt. Like yea, being Asian doesn't mean that your Asian ancestors build the great wall and fougt Hunns xD
The color problem does only exist in America , as you said in Morocco for example you can find cities in the north with people have blue eyes and blonde hair ,in the middle brown people and some cities in the south east black people , but at the end we are all Moroccans and we don’t treat each other based on our skin color
That black and white woke shit only exists in the US they're obsessed with it thank god I was born Moroccan and very proud to be one
It's always America. They have the knack of screwing other cultures over.
I went to an international school that was at least half Moroccan and sorry but you do care about race. Nowhere near to the extent that the US does but Northerners do look down on those from the South.
My best friend was from Ouarazate but is Arab but my other friend from te South was darker but not as dark as sub-Saharan Africans.
The Egyptian made mincemeat out of the Afrocentric guy on the other side. He is absolutely right. This is about cultural appropriation. Everything about the trailer is cultural appropriation, from the voice of the narrator who you can tell is a black woman to the crazy old bat who says, my grandmother told me that Cleopatra was black and I don't care what they tell you in school to the drumming [Egyptian music did not sound like that] to the black actress who plays Cleopatra. Cleopatra was white and she probably didn't look like Kim Kardashian who is Armenian. Cleopatra was of Greek Macedonian ancestry and Greek Macedonians look very European. They are whiter than Armenians. Don't forget, one of the most famous blondes in the world is Alexander the Great who was, also, Macedonian. There are existing frescos of Cleopatra from her time period and she is depicted having red hair, so, no, she was probably very white as red heads are usually very fair-skinned.
Lies
Thank you for your comments. I hate how African Americans have very little knowledge of Africa and it’s diversities and history somehow still talk as if they know better than everyone else. Not all Africa looks like they come from west Africa or sub Saharan. Even sub Saharan countries cannot be blended into one.
Stop attack us maybe if yiu epople saw each other the same yiu wouldnt have been colonized and if your ethnicities are so important why are you in borader made by Europeans
I appreciate your honest reaction to this dilemma, thank you for supporting what is right, is not everything about skin color, documentaries should be about accuracy.
Rami Malek was of Egyptian origin and won the academy award, also Omar Sharif who played Dr. Zhivago back in the 60’s.
Cleopatra was also created from centuries long incest. She's not even the first Cleopatra, she's the seventh or eighth in her lineage. Her family tree was uncle-niece, first cousins, brother-sister, I think grandfather-granddaughter multiple times for many generations with family members that were Greek/Macedonia. There's absolutely just no way that she would be African.
People who believe this wants their history to be better than it was, they wanna feel connected to someone that was great but really isn't a part of their heritage. Just like the lgbtq community turning historical figures into trans or queer. They've been trying to claim Alexander the Great as either a woman or trans which is far from the truth and offensive to everyone from that culture or even history buffs like myself. They've made a play where Joan of Arc is non-binary because she disguised herself as a man to fight in war, which takes away her merits and what she was. Just a patriotic woman fighting for her country and religion.
Well well....if you indeed she was white...she wasn't fighting for her country...because that wasn't her or the Greeks country they were invaders...who invaded the land of the real Egyptians/ Kemetic people...that wouldn't make her a hero...but the real story is she wasn't white....that's why she was fighting for Egypt
When you asked name some famous Arab, middle easter or Egyptian actors, Omar Sharif was the first person who came to mind. Then the most recent one is Rami Malek. It is crucial to have correct representation, don't take what's others' and claim it to be your own.
Why do you need someone in the past to make you feel better about yourself? Why do we keep attaching our ancestors to ourselves like their actions, good or bad, somehow determine who we are? Just because someone a hundred years ago with the same pigment of skin or the same bloodline as you doesnt effect you as a person. What effects you as a person is what YOU do. People cling to the past to tell them who they are when it doesnt tell you who you are, it tells you how you got here but only things you do tell you who you are
100% I love your comment it’s pin point accurate
Because history matters & tells the story of your people. The modern world is debased and shit, why would I want to identify with modern day nihilism, materialism, cynicism over my culture.? I have no problem with Indians, Chinese, Greeks, Egyptians etc. cherishing their cultural heritage, being proud of their collective achievements & protecting their story. And race isn't just pigment.
@@winnieblue9626 Agreed, this is the smart way to look at it.
Agree 100% with the guy on the right, stating that his culture is being misrepresented. Great reaction and discussion. Your intelligence, sensitivity and cultural awareness on a range of the topics you react to is why I subscribed a long time ago.