Social media users are demanding that the public boycott the anticipated Hollywood blockbuster film Exodus due to what critics say is the movie’s miscasting and the underrepresentation of minorities.The movie, which stars British actor Christian Bale in the lead role of Moses, features predominantly Caucasian actors playing parts of ancient Egyptians. Boycott advocates say that director Ridley Scott’s fielding of a predominantly white cast is historically inaccurate since most of the Egyptians at the time were “dark” or “olive-skinned.” Critics were angered that the only blacks deemed fit to appear in the film were cast in the role of thieves and servants.Scott raised eyebrows when he told Variety last week that the racial makeup of the cast was motivated primarily by economic concerns.“I can’t mount a film of this budget, where I have to rely on tax rebates in Spain, and say that my lead actor is Mohammad so-and-so from such-and-such,” Scott told the magazine. “I’m just not going to get it financed. So the question doesn’t even come up.”Moviegoers took to Twitter in hopes of persuading the public to shun the movie. The hashtag #BoycottExodusMovie generated thousands of tweets from users.
#BoycottExodusMovie "@MrLawson: HOW ARE EGYPTIANS NOT BLACK?! #PostBlackEgypt pic.twitter.com/RtW9V20p2I"— FreeSpirit (@KingMeBaby1) November 29, 2014
FYI Hollywood: Original Egyptians. 95% exterminated by Arabs.The remaining 5%,chased down south. #BoycottExodusMovie pic.twitter.com/Vb8jydaNAe— Zena Edwards (@ZenaEdwards) November 29, 2014
#BoycottExodusMovie "This casting isn't about funding. This casting is about anti-blackness" pic.twitter.com/vfAVfeuzQS via @blogdiva— Harriet (@queernaut) November 29, 2014
#BoycottExodusMovie Really...y'all really expected us to allow Egyptians to be depicted as white pic.twitter.com/58HHmihX5s— Bnub♪ (@Bnub_) November 28, 2014
