Rupert Murdoch Defends Exodus Cast: ‘Since When Are Egyptians Not White?’

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch took to Twitter on Friday evening to defend blockbuster film Exodus: Gods and Kings from critics who believe the all-white cast is offensive and inaccurate.

Egyptians are whites who “treated blacks as slaves,” the News Corp. CEO wrote of the Ridley Scott film that cast Christian Bale as Moses and Joel Edgerton as Pharoah.

Several critics have bashed the film for its casting decisions, and has drawn the ire of many on Twitter, who have begun calling for a boycott of the “racist” film.

Murdoch also drew his own social media ire by asking: “Since when are Egyptians not white? All I know are.”

Ultimately, he concluded, there’s “nothing racist” about his suggestion about Middle Easterners being white because “there are many shades of color.”

The tweets, in chronological order, below:

Moses film attacked on Twitter for all white cast. Since when are Egyptians not white? All I know are.

— Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) November 29, 2014

Everybody-attacks last tweet. Of course Egyptians are Middle Eastern, but far from black. They treated blacks as slaves.

— Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) November 29, 2014

Okay, there are many shades of color. Nothing racist about that, so calm down!

— Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) November 29, 2014

The trailer for the movie, which hits theaters December 12, below:

[Image via Twitter/20th Century Fox]

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