Netflix’s newly-released docudrama Queen Cleopatra already faced controversy leading up to its premiere. And, with the series now available on the popular streaming service, it looks like things aren’t getting any better. In fact, Queen Cleopatra has the lowest audience score seemingly possible on Rotten Tomatoes at one percent.
The incredibly low rating, which also counts as the lowest audience score in Netflix history on debut, was first reported by Forbes. Though it seems to have now climbed to a 2% score. Of course, this is still incredibly low, and not at all a good sign for the docudrama series.
As shared by the publication:
“Fans usually rate things higher than critics, even bad shows, and the point being, a 1 per cent audience score seems borderline mathematically impossible, even with the controversy the film has attracted.”
The series’ creator, Tina Gharvi, recently came to the defense of the show, saying:
#5 in UK #4 in US: Thank you to those who helped get us here. Including some angry folk who need to deal with the fact that melanated folk have been doing sh*t around here since day dot. Adam & Eve? I’m not even going to get into that… #Cleopatra #Netflix #jadapinkettsmith X pic.twitter.com/c39duJ8OVw
— Tina Gharavi (@Gharavi) May 12, 2023
One instance that led to controversy prior to the project’s premiere is that the series claims Cleopatra was a black woman. The series itself supports this with various commentators making arguments that Cleopatra indeed could have been African as opposed to Greek. Conversely, however, many historians do insist that she was Greek. Especially given the identity of her father. (Her mother is still unknown and thus some theorize that she could have been African.)
In fact, it seems like the majority of Egypt disagrees with the docudrama’s take on a black Cleopatra. They believe this alters their nation’s history and it’s something that they consider to be non-factual. And so it might not be surprising to see the low audience scores that have followed. Of course, the series is still quite popular on the streaming service, with many viewers giving it a chance. It seems likely that with the negative reception, however, that these ratings will begin to drop drastically.
Queen Cleopatra is currently available to stream via Netflix.