People have voiced their anger after Gal Gadot got chosen to play Cleopatra in the upcoming movie.
Taking to Twitter to share the good news, the 35-year-old Israeli actress confirmed she had been chosen to play the Egyptian queen in the upcoming Paramount Pictures movie.
The Wonder Woman star’s announcement follows shortly after the film company won the rights to the upcoming historical movie in a bidding war against Apple, Netflix, Universal, and Warner Bros.
“As you might have heard I teamed up with @PattyJenks and @LKalogridis to bring the story of Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, to the big screen in a way she’s never been seen before. To tell her story for the first time through women’s eyes, both behind and in front of the camera,” Gadot wrote.
“Cleopatra is a story I wanted to tell for a very long time. Can’t be more excited and grateful,” the actress added on Instagram.
“I love embarking on new journeys, I love the excitement of new projects, the thrill of bringing new stories to life.”
Following the 35-year-old’s revelation, angry keyboard warriors were quick to express their outrage over the producer’s decision to have the African queen portrayed by a white Israeli woman instead of a Black actress.
As people have quickly pointed out, however, the real Cleopatra was of Greek descent and therefore likely fair-skinned.
“People are upset because Gal Gadot, who isn’t black, is playing Cleopatra, who wasn’t black either,” Journalist Ian Miles Cheong ridiculed the critics.
“Cleopatra was NOT black, she was of Greek descent, and there are even effigies of the time on how she looked like. People need to stop trying to rewrite history with the SJW stupidity of today,” another user pointed out.
One person wrote: “I’m going to say this once and I’m not going to say it again, Cleopatra was Greek. Yes, she was in Egyptian ruler but she was Greek with Persian and Syrian ancestry. The people who are reacting negatively that to this are uneducated and uninformed. Gal Gadot deserves this role.”
Replaced!