Rupert Murdoch defends casting white actors in 'Exodus'
The media mogul has come under fire on social media after posting insensitive tweet
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2014-12-01 16:30 GMT
83-year-old media baron Rupert Murdoch appears to have made things worse by weighing into a debate about his new bible movie on Twitter. Angered by criticism that the cast of forthcoming epic Exodus: Gods and Kings is "too white", Murdoch tweeted that Egyptians are actually white and "far from black". He then backed up his point with the observation: "They treated blacks as slaves".
Moses film attacked on Twitter for all white cast. Since when are Egyptians not white? All I know are.
— Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) November 29, 2014Everybody-attacks last tweet. Of course Egyptians are Middle Eastern, but far from black. They treated blacks as slaves.
— Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) November 29, 2014When this failed to quell the backlash, he told his 535,000 followers to "calm down!", then ordered them to "change the subject". Murdoch's tweets only doused the flames until it became an inferno that he had to retreat from it.Okay, there are many shades of color. Nothing racist about that, so calm down!
— Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) November 29, 2014Change the subject. What chance more decent jobs as Europe, Japan, Russia, India, China all start to head south? Dangerous time.
— Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) November 29, 2014'Exodus: Gods and Kings' is an interpretation of the Old Testament Book of Exodus, which tells the story of Moses leading the Hebrews out of Egypt. The film is being distributed by Murdoch's 20th Century Fox, features Christian Bale as Moses, Aaron Paul as Joshua and Sigourney Weaver as Tuya. The film has been directed by Ridley Scott and has been blasted for being based in Africa, yet lacks diversity except for a few Blacks as slaves. Watch the trailer here: Full View