Netflix
Conservatives are up in arms over Netflix’s depiction of Alexander The Great as a gay man in their new docuseries … despite a long-standing belief that the dude was definitely bi.
The “End Wokeness” X account — widely known in right-wing circles — took offense to ATG, played by Buck Braithwaite, passionately kissing his pal/ potential lover Hephaestion early in the first episode of “Alexander: The Making of a God”.
The account wrote, “Netflix made a new documentary about Alexander The Great. Within the first 8 minutes, they turned him gay.”
Despite the indignation from the conservative-leaning account — not to mention from its followers — even more people were quick to point out … Alexander is widely considered to have been something other than just straight-up heterosexual, even by historians.
Worth noting … the legendary conqueror was also depicted as bisexual in the 2004 film, “Alexander”, played by Colin Farrell. So … this whole idea of him being bisexual ain’t new.
Funny enough, X even fact-checked the comments themselves … under the initial post, it was noted ancient historians and scholars had widely accepted Alexander was bisexual and believed to have had long-standing intimate relationships with both men and women.
It fell on deaf ears, though … the account doubled down on their outrage, writing: “It’s still unproven speculation and should definitely not be shoved into the first 8 minutes.”
The streamer dropped the 6-part docudrama on Jan 31 … unveiling ATG’s radical transformation of the conqueror from an exiled young man to his obsession with defeating the mighty Persian Emperor Darius … which allowed him to conquer the known world in just under 6 years.
Interviews with historians and plenty of dramatic reenactments bring the series to life … and of course, there’s a heavy focus on ATG’s sexual orientation.
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Professor Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones of Cardiff University in Wales says in the first episode that same-sex relationships were quite the norm throughout the Greek world and Dr. Salima Ikram of the American University of Cairo adds Hephaestion wasn’t just Alexander’s cherished companion but perhaps his “greatest love.”
TMZ Studios
Now, there have been conflicting reports ATG was married 3 times and had at least one known child … so the jury’s will forever be out about his sexuality, much to the fury of conservatives … who seem intent on erasing history, or at least what most accept about him.
