Rupert Murdoch Defends 'Exodus' All-White Cast, Says Egyptians Are White

Murdoch, whose 21st Century Fox owns 20th Century Fox, the studio producing "Exodus," took to Twitter to shed some light about the race of the ancient Egyptians.

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

Ridley Scott's film, which stars Christian Bale as Moses and Joel Edgerton as his stepbrother, Ramses, has been attacked by critics and fans for its all-white cast.

Variety's chief film critic Justin Chang addressed the controversy in his film review. "While these are problematic choices, dictated by commercial imperatives as old as Methuselah, they are also reservations one willingly suspends as the strength of the performances and the irresistible pull of the story take hold," he wrote.

"Exodus" hits theaters on Dec. 12.