In what some are calling a bid for an Oscar, remedy Beyonce is set to write and possibly star (though this comes from The Sun¸ so take that with a large grain of salt) in a film about the life of Saartjie Baartman, for sale the 19^th century Khoikhoi woman who was enslaved and exhibited as “Hottentot Venus” in a European freak show. Details about the filming or release dates have not been released but some are already displeased with the news that Beyonce will tell the South African woman’s story:

Chief Jean Burgess, generic of the First Indigenous Peoples of South Africa, told South African News outlet News24 that Beyonce lacked the “basic human dignity” to write about or play Baartman. “Ignoring the fact that the Khoikhoi is alive and that Sarah’s story would have an impact on how we are portrayed, is a mistake of great magnitude,” Burgess told News24.

Meanwhile, Kobus Reichert, a Gamtkwa Khoisan Council member, said they had no problem with Beyonce making or starring in the film, as long as it was done with “cultural understanding,” and respect for the Eastern Cape community, the South African province where Baartman came from.

The history of white people portraying non-white people characters is long and embarrassingly offensive and while Beyonce is obviously not white, it is understandable why South Africans, particularly Baartman’s own Khoikhoi people, would react negatively to a rich, privileged American black woman portraying one of their own.