If you want to get a table at a fancy New York restaurant or an internship at a Fortune 500 company, the Obama name can probably get you pretty far. But if you’re an aspiring young filmmaker just trying to get your career off the ground, the name might cause more harm than good – something Malia Obama is learning.
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The former President and First Lady’s oldest daughter premiered her short film, “The Heart,” at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival last month. And her decision to drop her internationally famous last name and be known simply as Malia Ann has people talking.
The eldest Obama daughter graduated from Harvard with a Visual and Environmental Studies degree in 2021. And she’s had hands-on experience on hit shows, including Donald Glover’s Prime Video miniseries “Swarm” and the HBO series “Girls.” But of course, haters are still gonna hate, as some accuse her of trying to be slick about avoiding nepo baby accusations.
“Obama’s daughter trying to sneak past Nepo baby discourse by not using her last name. Bro you are Obama’s [Daughter],” wrote McRib on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Like if you wanna be a filmmaker that’s cool but we all know who you are, you’re Obama’s daughter. You can’t hide that.”
But there were also plenty of people who came to Malia’s defense, rallying around to give her the chance to prove herself as a filmmaker.
“Would it be better if she called herself Malia Obama (Yes That One) on her publicity? She can’t win. I hope her art career goes well!” wrote one commenter.
“How much u wanna bet she’d get dragged if her filmmaking name was Malia Obama? leave this Harvard graduate with multiple successful projects [alone],” wrote another.
The fact that she doesn’t show her face in the film’s trailer is proof that she’s not trying to ride her last name to success. But unfortunately, when you have a famous last name, whether it’s Ross, Carter, Smith or Simmons, this X commentator put it best:
“Honestly, Nepo babies can’t win like yeah obviously we know that Malia Obama, but she’s honestly trying her best to just make her art and make her art stand on its own.”
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