One of the most polarizing topics in all of entertainment is “race-swapping,” or intentionally changing the race of established characters.
Some notable recent examples of race-swapping include Velma of Scooby-Doo fame (she went from being white to Indian), the Little Mermaid (yes, she’s half-fish, but her human half has gone from white to black) and a whole medley of characters from “Peter Pan.”
You’ll note that all of those characters are fictitious. It’s much easier to claim “creative license” when tweaking a person who never actually existed.
A high-profile example involves the newly announced Cleopatra documentary series coming to Netflix.