A new Netflix series about Cleopatra has courted controversy by being not only woke, but changing the race of the title character from Greek/Macedonian to African.
It is such an obvious rewrite of history that even the government of Egypt objected to the series.
Reviews for the series are absolutely brutal. It has the lowest audience score in TV history.
Forbes reports:
Netflix’s ‘Queen Cleopatra’ Appears To Have The Worst Audience Score In TV History
While I had heard about the controversy surrounding Netflix’s “docudrama” Queen Cleopatra, I hadn’t been tracking it much since it was actually released a few days ago. It’s #6 in Netflix’s Top 10 list, and I don’t think I’ve seen it go all that much higher than that.
However, the show has done something I didn’t think was even possible. It has not just the lowest audience score in Netflix history, it has essentially the lowest audience score possible on Rotten Tomatoes, a 1%. Not a 10%, a 1%. (Update: It just ticked up to 2%. Still an unprecedented low)
There aren’t many critic reviews in, but those are low as well, with the show sitting at a 13%. But those audience scores? I’ve never seen anything like this. Not with bad shows. Not with politically controversial shows prone to review bombing. Never this bad, not in Netflix history. Honesty, I think not even in TV history, at least with this many reviews in (over a thousand)….
The issue is the conceptualization of what purports to be a historical documentary saying that Cleopatra was a black “African queen,” as this season was supposed to be the first in a series covering different queens from the continent. But there is not terribly credible evidence that Cleopatra was black, and instead she was of Macedonian Greek descent. The country of Egypt in particular has taken offense to the show altering their history this dramatically and portraying it as something they believe is non-factual in a series that is meant to be a documentary.
The numbers are just stunning.
Race-swapped Cleopatra Netflix earns lowest TV Show audience rating ever on Rotten Tomatoes https://t.co/FEV6NeMQ7k
— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) May 15, 2023
Netflix’s woke documentary about Queen Cleopatra lands a 1% audience score pic.twitter.com/RsMxxJcbtz
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) May 14, 2023
The public is tired of woke Hollywood.
The entertainment industry had better take notice.