Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Modernity.news,
The BBC has chosen a “racially diverse cast” to play the characters in its upcoming historical drama about the Battle of Hastings, which occurred in 1066, leading one historian to decry the “bizarre notion that there were black earls in Anglo-Saxon England.”
The eight-part series King and Conqueror, which is a CBS Studios co-production, will feature numerous non-white characters, including one taking the role of a real 11th-century leader.
Black actor Jason Forbes will play the fictional character Thane Thomas, “with the “thanes” being a layer of nobility in the ethnically homogeneous society of Anglo-Saxon England,” reports the Telegraph.“(Elander) Moore, of Trinidadian descent, will play the real historical figure of Morcar, an Earl of Northumbria who fought against Viking and Norman invaders, before being subdued by William after the battle of Hastings.”
Historian Dr Zareer Masani, who has worked with the BBC, lambasted the decision, asserting, “Some of us, including people of colour, grew up thinking actors ought to look like characters they played.”
He warned that the BBC’s approach is “hugely confusing and downright misleading,” adding that it was “absolutely crazy that they’ve applied this colour-blindness to a period when Britain was at its least multicultural, before even the Norman Conquest.”
While it’s acceptable to depict Anglo-Saxons as black or mixed race, apparently it’s no longer politically correct to even acknowledge that white Anglo-Saxons existed, given a recent decision by The Cambridge University Press to change the name of its ‘Anglo-Saxon England’ journal to ‘Early Medieval England and its Neighbours.