Malia Obama tries to avoid the ‘nepo baby’ label by using her stage name in her directorial debut

Films

By Erin Keller

Malia Obama opted to launch her first Hollywood directorial effort under a stage name, but social media is still criticizing the former First Daughter for her “nepo baby” roots.

The 25-year-old daughter of former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama wrote and directed the short film “The Heart,” which premiered Jan. 18 at the Sundance Film Festival.

However, as seen in a resurfaced clip Produced by Sundance describing the film, Malia dropped her world-renowned last name and is credited in the project as Malia Ann.

Malia described “The Heart” as “a strange little story, something of a fable, about a man who mourns the death of his mother after she leaves him an unusual request in her will.”

She studied film at Harvard University with a concentration in visual and environmental studies and landed a job as a writer on the Amazon Prime series “Swarm” by Janine Nabers and Donald Glover, which premiered in March 2023.

Still, fans of

“Baby Nepo attacks again”, an enemy he tweeted on Wednesday.

“Obama’s daughter tries to mock the Nepo baby speech by not using his last name. Brother, you are Obama’s daughter,” another saying.

“His ‘career in entertainment’ is so much fun,” another person said. noted from Obama’s biography. “She interned on Girls at 15, interned with Weinstein at 18 (just a few months before everything fell apart), and then writes for a Donald Glover show at 24 without a single writing credit , and now immediately gets his first short at Sundance. ”

Someone else Elaborated, “So she worked 3 jobs in entertainment and went to college? And that’s what we know. But that is not enough? Would you be happier to see her fail? “I guess that’s the case.”

Other fans defended Malia against the “nepo baby” talk, stating that “she changed her name for exactly this reason.”

“Haters will hate,” a supporter aggregate.

“She is trying not to use his name and build it herself. However, she still complains to you.” said a second.

“Maybe he’s not trying to avoid conversations about nepo, maybe he just wants his own identity outside of his very famous family,” said another. explained.

“And if I used “Malia Obama” I would be criticized for that too. “Milking the name…” etc,” someone else joked.

Malia made her Sundance red carpet debut last month, where she revealed what she wanted viewers to take away from the short.

“The movie is about lost objects, lonely people, forgiveness and regret, but I also think it works hard to discover where tenderness and closeness can exist in those things,” Malia said.

“We hope you enjoy the film and it makes you feel a little less alone, or at least reminds you not to forget the people who are.”