A Dutch museum has been banned from a dig in Egypt, reports the NRC, because of upset about an exhibition.

The National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden has provoked angry reaction on social media for an exhibition on how ancient Egypt and the area around the Nile have inspired modern musicians of African origin.

The show Kemet: Egypt in hip hop, jazz, soul & funk, started in April and runs until September and looks at how primarily black American musicians from Miles Davis to Beyoncé and Rihanna have interpreted ideas like spirituality, pride, power, eye make-up and costume.

However, some Facebook groups have reacted with anger since the exhibition also includes images – previously available – of pop stars like Nas as a Tutankhamen-alike statue, Beyoncé and Rhianna dressed as Nefertiti and Eddie Murphy playing pharaoh Ramses, in a Michael Jackson music video.

Now, according to Dutch media, Egyptian authorities have told the Dutch museum it can no longer work on a dig in Sakkara, a research project started in 1975, because they believe it is “falsifying history” in its “Afrocentric” exhibition.

Wim Weijland, the director of the National Museum of Antiquities, told the NRC that the research project had nothing to do with the exhibition. “This is unseemly,” he reportedly said. “This exhibition has been created with great care, and scientists do not blame one other like this. I would like them to take it back.”

The museum has previously put out a statement defending its exhibition, and pointing out the care it took to work with external advisors and focus groups. Some of the commentary on social media, and Google reviews, revolved around whether or not ancient Egyptians could have had black skin.

“The museum also receives comments via social media that are racist or offensive in nature,” the museum pointed out. “These are not tolerated by the museum…We cordially invited everyone to visit the exhibition and form their own opinions.”

Dr Daniel Soliman, curator of the Egyptian and Nubian collection, who is half-Egyptian, said that it was important to show aspects of popular culture that were sometimes neglected by the museum world.

“I think ancient Egypt is often presented as being rather monolithic,” he added. “There will have been people who, nowadays, we would have called in Western terminology black people. That doesn’t mean that we can put that label on an entire culture that lasted for 3,000 years. But that’s something that is difficult to maybe explain to people, especially if certain stereotypes have been perpetuated.”

Weijland has invited delegates from Egypt to visit the museum and make up their own minds.