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

Malia Obama opted to release her first Hollywood directional effort under a stage name, but social media is still blasting 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 debuted on Jan. 18 at the Sundance Film Festival.

However, as spotted in a resurfaced clip produced by Sundance in which she describes the movie, Malia dropped her globally recognized last name and is credited on the project as Malia Ann.

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

She studied filmmaking at Harvard University as a visual and environmental studies major and landed a job as a writer on Janine Nabers and Donald Glover’s Amazon Prime series “Swarm,” which premiered in March 2023.

Still, fans on X, the platform previously known as Twitter, were conflicted about Malia, who lived in the White House during her dad’s two presidential terms from 2009 to 2017, seemingly trying to distance herself from her famous moniker.

“Nepo baby strikes again,” one hater tweeted on Wednesday.

“Obama’s daughter trying to sneak past nepo baby discourse by not using her last name. Bro you are Obama’s Daughter,” another said.

“Her ‘entertainment career’ is so funny,” another person noted of Obama’s bio. “She interned on Girls at 15, interned with Weinstein at 18 (just months before the shit went down), and then writes for a Donald Glover show at like 24 without a single writing credit, and now immediately gets her first short in Sundance.”

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

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

“Haters gonna hate,” one supporter added.

“She is trying to not use her name and build it on her own. Yet, you still complain,” a second said.

“She might not be trying to sneak past nepo talk, she might just want her own identity outside of her very famous family,” another explained.

“And if she would use “Malia Obama” she would be criticized for that, too. “Milking the name…” etc,” someone else quipped.

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

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

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