A new Channel 5 series has a black actor playing Henry VIII’s second wife. But is it the triumph for diversity it seems? I’d rather see some new new queens on the block
Poor Anne Boleyn has had a rough go of it. She was married to Henry VIII, a wife-killing tyrant whose legs were covered with pus-filled boils. And, after failing to give her husband a son, she was beheaded on spurious treason charges. Then, to add insult to injury, Boleyn was stuck with a horrible reputation for the next few centuries.
And she is still ruffling feathers from beyond the grave. Henry VIII’s second wife is the subject of a new Channel 5 series; she is to be played by the black British actor Jodie Turner-Smith. Predictably, racists are losing their heads over it. (I’d wager many of the same people who think a black woman shouldn’t play a white historical figure have zero issues with Jesus being routinely portrayed as a white guy.)
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3oV5mx9
