Back in 1963, Elizabeth Taylor, then the hottest actress in the world, starred as Cleopatra in an over-the-top, star-studded blockbuster with a $31 million budget — equal to $327 million in today’s dollars.

Taylor likely didn’t look much like the Egyptian queen, what with her lily-white skin and dark blue eyes with purple irises. But back then, everything wasn’t so politically correct and people didn’t take offense at meaningless things.

Skip ahead 60 years. Netflix’s new documentary “Queen Cleopatra” has drawn controversy and “blackwashing” claims after Adele James, a black actress, was cast in the lead role. And yes, in fact, historical records show Cleopatra she wasn’t black, but Macedonian-Greek.

The documentary, part of the African Queens series, explores the rise and fall of the last pharaoh of Egypt and was released on May 10. But it’s the dismal ratings that are making headlines.

The documentary currently has a 2% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which Forbes says is the lowest in history.

The “average Tomatometer,” which calculates how many critics rate it favorably, stands at 10%.

Here’s how bad that is: The worst film on the movie rating site, Ballistic: Ecks Vs Sever,” in 2002 has a 0% rating on the Tomatometer, but a 20% favorable rating by the audience. Another stinker, “One Missed Call” from 2008, also has a 0% Tomatometer but a 20% audience score. And the Nicholas Cage bomb, “Left Behind,” from 2014 got 0% from the critics but 22% from the audience.

Forbe’s notes that the creator of the series, Tina Gharvi, has defended the casting choice:

“Why shouldn’t Cleopatra be a melanated sister? And why do some people need Cleopatra to be white? Her proximity to whiteness seems to give her value, and for some Egyptians it seems to really matter. After much hand-wringing and countless auditions, we found in Adele James an actor who could convey not only Cleopatra’s beauty, but also her strength. What the historians can confirm is that it is more likely that Cleopatra looked like Adele than Elizabeth Taylor ever did.”

But hundreds of audience reviews say different.

“I’m a huge history buff and I love documentaries depicting the past lives of historical figures. That being said, I have no idea what this is. It’s not a documentary depicting the life of Cleopatra. It’s a race baiting Netflix show that tells its audience that if you can’t get on board with this retelling of how we see the history of Queen Cleopatra, then you’re racist. End of story,” one amateur reviewer wrote.

“A ‘documentary’ that has about as much historical accuracy as John Wayne playing Genghis Khan back in 1956. Cleopatra was a Macedonian Greek. If you want her to be Black, fine create a historic fiction series. Queen Hatshepsut or Queen Nefertiti would have been a much better person to cover if you wanted to take the Black female empowerment narrative,” another wrote.

Yet another attempt to go woke, but ending up going broke.

The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent for a national newspaper. He was also the a.m. editor of the Drudge Report for four years. Send tips to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and follow him on Twitter @josephcurl.

The U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) identified the suspect in the alleged baseball bat attack on staffers for Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) at his district office in Fairfax, Virginia, on Monday.

Xuan Kha Tran Pham, a 49-year-old man from Fairfax, Virginia, is the individual who has been arrested and charged in connection to the incident, the federal law enforcement agency said in a statement.

“At approximately 10:49 a.m. on Monday, May 15, a man entered Representative Connolly’s District Office. Two Congressional staffers were assaulted with a metal bat and received non-life threatening injuries. Congressman Connolly was not in the office at the time of the assaults,” the Capitol Police said.

“The Fairfax City Police Department responded and arrested the suspect. At this time, it is not clear what the suspect’s motivation may have been. Based on what we know right now, investigators do not have any information that the suspect was known to the USCP,” the statement added. “Special Agents with the United States Capitol Police Threat Assessment Section were dispatched to Fairfax, Virginia. The Department simultaneously coordinated with our partners at the Fairfax City Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Washington Field Office.”

Connolly announced earlier in the day that his two staffers had been transported to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The congressman said a man wielding a baseball bat attacked the staffers after asking for the congressman.

“Right now, our focus is on ensuring they are receiving the care they need. We are incredibly thankful to the City of Fairfax Police Department and emergency medical professionals for their quick response,” Connolly said in his statement.

“I have the best team in Congress. My District Office staff make themselves available to constituents and members of the public every day,” the congressman said. “The thought that someone would take advantage of my staff’s accessibility to commit an act of violence is unconscionable and devastating.”

The suspect faces one count of Aggravated Malicious Wounding and one count of Malicious Wounding, the USCP said. An investigation by the USCP and the Fairfax City Police Department is ongoing.

As noted by the USCP in its press release, last month Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger testified about the challenge of contending with a roughly 400% increase in threats against members of Congress over the past six years.

“Over the course of the last year, the world has continuously changed, becoming more violent and uncertain,” Manger added.