To be honest, I don't trust Hollywood to ever respect history when it comes to anything they produce.  I learned that back in the early 1980s when they created the original "Clash of the Titans".  Granted, these with myths and not history...but the original myths were plenty entertaining...but the hubris of Hollywood results in them always attempting to change things to make it "better" and usually falling short.  So if I want to learn about history, I certainly will not rely on anything they produce.  Personally I have no skin in the game when it comes to Cleopatra regarding who plays that role.  Rather my issues or rather disappointment is with Jada's comment "We don't often get to see or hear stories about black queens".  First off, Cleopatra has been done to death.  But I digress, she basically had a choice...go with Cleopatra where the "black" component is uncertain or dive into a territory Hollywood rarely goes into and pick an undisputed African queen.  Took me less than a minute to pull up Yaa Asantewaa.  Why not expand upon her history?  Personally I love period pieces and would definitely be interested in watching a TV series or movies that focus on other areas/cultures outside of America or England.  I recently just finished watching season two of the Invisible City which is twist on Brazilian Folklore.  Granted, the voice overs are awful at times, but I love the concept.  I wish Hollywood would stop being money hungry and lazy.  Sorry, went on a tangent. 

I don't get the fuss tbh. I don't care who plays who and I never did. I don't care if you make Lincoln black, the Little Mermaid Hispanic or a future space character Lao. Honestly. I can suspend my disbelief that "it might not have been that way historically" but it doesn't bother me. It's not to be inclusive either, always thought the performance is what should shine. Plus it's slightly interesting to see a difference, in my head, as long as it still fairly makes sense. We do things like make Abe Lincoln a vampire hunter, jokingly make historical figures do modem things (Bill and Ted). It's fun to imagine slight difference. And if it's a serious role, again. I can suspend my disbelief knowing "they weren't really that race" and focus on the storytelling. It just doesn't bother me. And I prefer to have less things bother me than more things so....