Filmaker's accusations against Malia Obama -Inspiration or Plagiarism?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She obviously stole it. No idea where it will go legally but the woman making the case against her (both black btw) has a completely valid point. If nothing else she proved that she came up with that scene.

+1. Makes ya wonder how much of her own work she submitted at Harvard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spoiled millionaire nepo baby with a Harvard degree she didn’t deserve, gets a Nike contract she didn’t deserve, then immediately steals from a poor Black female peer. Shameful!

How did Malia not deserve a Nike contract?

Nike is for celebrities. Most of them are mid-career and rich. This is normal even if it's not admirable.

The incoming quarterback at my kid's university has been guaranteed more than $10M in NIL. Universities are supposed to be about learning, not sports!!!! But hardly anybody cares about that. This is the culture we live in.

Malia was chosen because she is aspirational. At least she is trying to work for a living and not based on her looks or influencing.

A rich druggy layabout deserved a Nike contract, why? What in the hell has she done to warrant a Nike contract?

Lol...pro athletes are poor, clean living salt of the earth people?

We’re talking about production and directing a commercial, dear. Catch up.

You're pretty patronizing for someone who is missing the point. We're actually talking about selling shoes through association with Black female celebrities. Malia Obama is a Black female celebrity. Ms. Indie Filmmaker is starting to earn some awards and business but is not a celebrity. Nike puts a ton of effort and money into being associated with celebrities and winners. That is a completely obvious fact. Nike hires pro athletes who aren't squeaky-clean either (re: accusations above).

Malia was intended to be a heartwarming Black female celebrity "director" backstory to the creation of this ad. That matters to the influencers and media who support Nike as a cultural powerhouse. It lends legitimacy and business accolades to the process of selling shoes. The commercial, however it got made, uses Black female celebrities to increase demand for overpriced luxury athletic footwear through association with their star power.

Just go look up Obama Nike sneakers...there are lots of varieties...official and handmade. Obama and Michelle's brother are known basketball aficionados. The name is associated with basketball due to the family's obvious interest in it.

I'm really hoping the people on here are interested in copyright and originality and bigger issues about Nike, instead of being mad that Malia took their kid's spot at Sidwell or Harvard!

[Anonymous]

Talentless nepo baby gets a job she didn’t earn or deserve, proceeds to steal someone else’s idea. Now her powerful dad’s and Nike’s bots and foot soldiers work overtime to bury a poor Black girl she ripped off.

The far better story from a marketing perspective would be Nike hiring the struggling talented no-name Black girl she ripped off. Not a talentless thief with rich parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Talentless nepo baby gets a job she didn’t earn or deserve, proceeds to steal someone else’s idea. Now her powerful dad’s and Nike’s bots and foot soldiers work overtime to bury a poor Black girl she ripped off.

The far better story from a marketing perspective would be Nike hiring the struggling talented no-name Black girl she ripped off. Not a talentless thief with rich parents.

unbanned?

PP. You apparently have an axe to grind against the Obamas. That does not mean you understand what it takes to sell sneakers by absorbing cool factor from celebrities. Even if you don't like Malia Obama and don't think she deserves it, you should be able to admit that she is a Black female celebrity.

In fact, there are times when luxury brands choose to do that kind of "new faces" marketing. It is quite possible to do market research to determine what is more effective. Usually it's cheapest and easiest to use already famous people. This can be proven by facts usually kept internal to the companies as confidential business information. But people in marketing and advertising understand this very well. It's exactly why the whole celebrity and sponsorship bit works.

If you just want to spew hatred for Malia Obama, we got your message. No need to say more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Talentless nepo baby gets a job she didn’t earn or deserve, proceeds to steal someone else’s idea. Now her powerful dad’s and Nike’s bots and foot soldiers work overtime to bury a poor Black girl she ripped off.

The far better story from a marketing perspective would be Nike hiring the struggling talented no-name Black girl she ripped off. Not a talentless thief with rich parents.

Agree, great opportunity to hire the other girl with original thoughts! I bet it would get traction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spoiled millionaire nepo baby with a Harvard degree she didn’t deserve, gets a Nike contract she didn’t deserve, then immediately steals from a poor Black female peer. Shameful!

How did Malia not deserve a Nike contract?

Nike is for celebrities. Most of them are mid-career and rich. This is normal even if it's not admirable.

The incoming quarterback at my kid's university has been guaranteed more than $10M in NIL. Universities are supposed to be about learning, not sports!!!! But hardly anybody cares about that. This is the culture we live in.

Malia was chosen because she is aspirational. At least she is trying to work for a living and not based on her looks or influencing.

A rich druggy layabout deserved a Nike contract, why? What in the hell has she done to warrant a Nike contract?

Lol...pro athletes are poor, clean living salt of the earth people?

We’re talking about production and directing a commercial, dear. Catch up.

You're pretty patronizing for someone who is missing the point. We're actually talking about selling shoes through association with Black female celebrities. Malia Obama is a Black female celebrity. Ms. Indie Filmmaker is starting to earn some awards and business but is not a celebrity. Nike puts a ton of effort and money into being associated with celebrities and winners. That is a completely obvious fact. Nike hires pro athletes who aren't squeaky-clean either (re: accusations above).

Malia was intended to be a heartwarming Black female celebrity "director" backstory to the creation of this ad. That matters to the influencers and media who support Nike as a cultural powerhouse. It lends legitimacy and business accolades to the process of selling shoes. The commercial, however it got made, uses Black female celebrities to increase demand for overpriced luxury athletic footwear through association with their star power.

Just go look up Obama Nike sneakers...there are lots of varieties...official and handmade. Obama and Michelle's brother are known basketball aficionados. The name is associated with basketball due to the family's obvious interest in it.

I'm really hoping the people on here are interested in copyright and originality and bigger issues about Nike, instead of being mad that Malia took their kid's spot at Sidwell or Harvard!

Michelle's brother was a college basketball coach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP again. Found the Business Insider article.

Check out the quotes.

https://www.businessinsider.com/malia-obama-nike-commercial-similarities-my-short-film-2025-5

"It speaks to a larger issue of brands not supporting independent artists and opting for folks who already have name recognition, which doesn't breed innovative films or original storytelling. If they wanted these shots that were similar to my shots, why not hire me to direct?"

-I would say it's because they don't care about innovation or the indie artist's shots. Nike wanted to borrow some Obama female brand halo.

"no one wants to be the first person to bet on me — coupled with the fact that I'm young and don't have an established name"

-Yes, that's exactly right. It's how the world works and blaming others is not going to fix it unless you go viral and get a big GoFundMe kitty due to going viral.

"Sometimes it can feel like filmmaking is something that's supposed to be a hobby for the wealthy rather than something that can actually be a career."

-Yes, the above is basically true. The arts are less lucrative for most people. Indie filmmakers need to own their choices.

Her quotes are dumb. Did she pitch an idea to Nike? Did she actively try to find a job directing commercials for large brands? Nope. I bet, in fact, that she would have refused to "sell out" and now here she is, jealous that a wealthy, famous black woman got this job that she didn't even want and she saw an opportunity to go viral. Tada! Now everyone knows her name.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I watched both. This is silly - Malia didn't steal from this woman's film. Black girls playing patty cake sitting on the steps is in several films.

Are we talking about this commercial? Because I see kids playing hand games standing on a playground, on a bus, and on a pew.

I would say that the scene in Grace (which is a beautiful film by the way) is much more derivative of the scene in Color Purple than the commercial is derivative of the scene in Grace.

Can you link the scene in Color Purple you are referring to? One article linked to one and Grace and the Nike ad were way more similar. I agree that Grace is a beautiful film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTy9unR5Fos

Can you tell me tell me whether I have the right commercial, and if so which point you think is so similar? Because I don't even see a porch, so I wonder what I'm missing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpVEoYjmZps

OK yeah. Not seeing the similarity at all. Almost makes me wonder if the filmmaker is simply stirring up controversy to raise awareness for her film.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I watched both. This is silly - Malia didn't steal from this woman's film. Black girls playing patty cake sitting on the steps is in several films.

Are we talking about this commercial? Because I see kids playing hand games standing on a playground, on a bus, and on a pew.

I would say that the scene in Grace (which is a beautiful film by the way) is much more derivative of the scene in Color Purple than the commercial is derivative of the scene in Grace.

Can you link the scene in Color Purple you are referring to? One article linked to one and Grace and the Nike ad were way more similar. I agree that Grace is a beautiful film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTy9unR5Fos

Can you tell me tell me whether I have the right commercial, and if so which point you think is so similar? Because I don't even see a porch, so I wonder what I'm missing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpVEoYjmZps

I agree. The first one (Grace?) reminds me very much of the bit from The Color Purple. The Nike commercial doesn’t remind me of the Grace bit or of The Color Purple. As others have said, children — particularly Black girls —playing hand clap games is evocative of a certain culture, and perhaps a certain time. I wrote a paper on hand clap games and rhymes decades ago, when I learned that this was an aspect of culture and community that not all of my peers in college shared.

If this is all there is, I don’t see anything approaching plagiarism on Malia’s part. If anything, I think that Harris is using this opportunity to promote her own work. We now know her name. She’s getting her 15 minutes at Malia’s expense— and that will follow her.

[Anonymous]

Wait until AI gets a little further along. It will generate tight shots of hands touching against a blue wall for free. The hands might have seven fingers each, but hey, who's counting?

[Anonymous]

Does Malia have self-made millions? I saw a clip somewhere on social media yesterday that said she does but didn't want to click the link to see if it was a true or reputable source.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I watched both. This is silly - Malia didn't steal from this woman's film. Black girls playing patty cake sitting on the steps is in several films.

Are we talking about this commercial? Because I see kids playing hand games standing on a playground, on a bus, and on a pew.

I would say that the scene in Grace (which is a beautiful film by the way) is much more derivative of the scene in Color Purple than the commercial is derivative of the scene in Grace.

Can you link the scene in Color Purple you are referring to? One article linked to one and Grace and the Nike ad were way more similar. I agree that Grace is a beautiful film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTy9unR5Fos

Can you tell me tell me whether I have the right commercial, and if so which point you think is so similar? Because I don't even see a porch, so I wonder what I'm missing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpVEoYjmZps

I agree. The first one (Grace?) reminds me very much of the bit from The Color Purple. The Nike commercial doesn’t remind me of the Grace bit or of The Color Purple. As others have said, children — particularly Black girls —playing hand clap games is evocative of a certain culture, and perhaps a certain time. I wrote a paper on hand clap games and rhymes decades ago, when I learned that this was an aspect of culture and community that not all of my peers in college shared.

If this is all there is, I don’t see anything approaching plagiarism on Malia’s part. If anything, I think that Harris is using this opportunity to promote her own work. We now know her name. She’s getting her 15 minutes at Malia’s expense— and that will follow her.

+1

[Anonymous]

I think it's silly. Yes, she's a nepotism kid and most of them are not talented. But then call that out if you think so, don't accuse her of something stupid and fabricated. I don't think it was smart of the young woman who made Grace as she is obviously more talented and didn't need to get petty and make up what isn't there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the Obamas can find a way to spin this to work for everyone if they get the right advice. Give the woman credit for inspiring the scene and promote her career. Heck maybe Nike will hire her. Talk openly about the blurry line between inspiration and taking someone's ideas. Have Malia apologize for not giving this woman credit from the start in some way. I think it's also fine to say you do not feel that this crossed into plagiarism, but you regret not giving this woman the acolades she deserves. Make it clear your family values are about accountability and raising people up. Be humble about parenting and stop giving out advice. If anything, commiserate with us all. We are all trying to do right by our kids and sometimes when they fall, even as adults we do help pick them up and sometimes, we do try to prevent them from failing and parenting is complicated.

I’m betting this is exactly what the filmmaker wants the Obamas to do for her which is why she targeted Malia in the first place.

[Anonymous]

I feel like a shot of girls playing patty cake is not original in the least. I've seen that in every crime TV show that employs flashbacks, like "Cold Case" and "Criminal Minds." Malia Obama did not copy this person.