Malia Obama Accused of Copying Parts of Indie Filmmaker’s Short Film for Nike Ad

An independent filmmaker appears to be accusing Malia Obama of copying elements of her 2024 short film to create a new Nike commercial.

Over the weekend, Obama, who professionally goes by Malia Ann, debuted two commercials for A'ja Wilson's first A'One Nike sneaker. After seeing one of the ads, filmmaker and New York University graduate Natalie Jasmine Harris reacted in a tweet and compared it to her 2024 short film, Grace. The short appeared in the same year that Obama made her Sundance debut with film, The Heart.

"Been sitting with this for a while," Harris began, including stills from her and Obama's projects. "My Sundance short film GRACE (shot brilliantly by Tehillah de Castro) was made with deep love and care. The social cut of the new @Nike commercial directed by Malia Obama (who was also at Sundance my year) feels shockingly similar to my work…"

Harris continued with suggesting that Nike and Wilson should have hired her instead of Obama, who benefits from "name recognition."

But the similar themes could be coincidental, as Obama, who's a Harvard University graduate, is an experienced director and screenwriter, even being credited as part of 2023 show Swarm.