British TV’s Channel 5 have just announced that a black actress is to play Anne Boleyn in an upcoming three part period drama.

Jodie Turner-Smith is set to play 16th-century Queen of England Anne Boleyn, who was a white woman.

The baffling choice to play Henry VIII’s second wife has led to internet clashes with many suggesting that the move amounts to cultural appropriation.

RT reports: Turner-Smith’s turn as the medieval monarch was announced on Friday. The project was described by entertainment outlet Deadline as being a three-part “convention-defying” psychological thriller by Channel 5, set to “shine a feminist light” on the life of Boleyn, famously sent to her death by her husband King Henry the Eighth.

Social media quickly began overflowing with complaints about Turner-Smith playing a white queen. Commenters demanded “historical accuracy” and called it “cultural appropriation” – a term usually used when white people emulate other cultures. Many said that, logically, the Turner-Smith casting as Boleyn should be no more acceptable than a white person playing a well-known black historical figure.