‘Since when are Egyptians not white?’: Rupert Murdoch defends all-white ‘Exodus: Gods and Kings’ cast on Twitter
Critics claim the upcoming film about Moses is racially inaccurate and offensive because it features white actors playing famous Egyptians. But the media mogul doesn’t understand the controversy: ‘Of course Egyptians are Middle Eastern, but far from black. They treated blacks as slaves,’ he tweeted.
By Meg Wagner | NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Media magnate Rupert Murdoch defended the all-white cast of “Exodus: Gods and Kings” on Twitter, declaring that that Egyptians are whites who “treated blacks as slaves.”
Critics claim the upcoming film ― which tells the story of Moses’ escape from Egypt ― is racially inaccurate and offensive. Director Ridley Scott cast Christian Bale as Moses and a slew of other white actors as famous Egyptians.
But Murdoch ― who owns the studio producing the film ― doesn’t understand the backlash.
“Moses film attacked on Twitter for all white cast. Since when are Egyptians not white? All I know are,” he Tweeted Friday.
Commenters quickly pointed out the mogul’s faulty logic.
“To be fair, everybody @rupertmurdoch knows is probably white,” @bart_smith tweeted.
”Have you seen depictions of King Tut or other ancient Egyptians? They didn’t exactly resemble Channing Tatum,” @marcwilmore responded.
Murdoch tried to backpedal after the controversial tweet.
“Of course Egyptians are Middle Eastern, but far from black. They treated blacks as slaves,” he tweeted.
“Okay, there are many shades of color. Nothing racist about that, so calm down!” he said in another.
But those messages only made things worse.
“You really shoulda quit three tweets ago,” @DKuzLA responded.
Others wondered if the tweets were satire or if the 83-year-old had a stroke.
Previously, Joel Edgerton, another one of the film’s stars, sounded off about the casting controversy.
“I got asked to do a job and it would have been very hard to say no to that job,” he said.
Murdoch is the founder, chairman and CEO of both News Corporation and 21st Century Fox. The later owns 20th Century Fox, the film studio producing “Exodus: Gods and Kings.”
The movie opens on Dec. 12.
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