Bias Watch

Conservatives are outraged that Netflix’s Alexander the Great docuseries “turned him gay”

"I don't think it was Netflix that made him gay."
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Scene from the trailer of Alexander: The Making of a God
Scene from the trailer of Alexander: The Making of a God Photo: Screenshot

Netflix’s six-part series on Alexander the Great – Alexander: The Making of a God – is already drawing criticism from the right for depicting the ancient Greek king as having had sexual relationships with men.

“Netflix made a new documentary about Alexander The Great. Within the first 8 minutes, they turned him gay,” complained the influential rightwing account End Wokeness on X. End Wokeness has over two million followers.

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Formed with the idea that only love withstands war, the Sacred Band of Thebes was deliberately comprised of 150 gay or bisexual couples.

Historians know that Alexander had sexual and romantic relationships with both men and women, including with his general and bodyguard Hephaestion, according to the University of Cambridge Museums & Botanic Garden website. Alexander was described as devastated when Hephaestion died and “lay weeping on his comrade for a day & night before being pried away.” He cut his hair in pouring.

End Wokeness was mocked for apparently not knowing that same-sex relationships weren’t stigmatized in many parts of the ancient world the way they are today and even one of their supportive followers tried to point that out.

“I hate wokeness, but hear me out,” wrote X user Jessica O’Donnell. “There’s a good chance he was at least bisexual because, well, that was kind of the Greek thing to do.”

“It’s still unproven speculation and should definitely not be shoved into the first 8 minutes,” End Wokeness shot back.

Others on the platform were less charitable in their responses.

But many conservatives took End Wokeness’s side, insisting that Alexander’s same-sex relationships shouldn’t have been mentioned even if they were real. Others insisted that the docuseries is proof that Netflix is “woke.”

This is far from the first time that depictions of Alexander’s sexuality have come under attack from conservatives. In 2004, a coalition of Greek lawyers threatened to sue director Oliver Stone and Warner Bros. for depicting Alexander as bisexual. They claimed that Stone’s film Alexander, starring Colin Farrell, was defamatory.

“We are not saying that we are against gays but we are saying that the production company should make it clear to the audience that this film is pure fiction and not a true depiction of the life of Alexander,” said attorney Yannis Varnakos at the time. “We have not seen the film, but from the information we have already there are references to his alleged homosexuality, a fact that is in no historical document or archive on Alexander.”

Farrell, though, said at the time that “in an ideal world” there would have been even more depictions of same-sex action in the film but that filmmakers shied away from it because they didn’t want to scare away homophobic audiences.

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