From Daily Mail: An independent filmmaker who premiered her film at Sundance is alleging that a recent Nike advertisement directed by Malia Obama, 26, is ‘shockingly similar’ to her work.
Natalie Jasmine Harris, 27, shared stills from her film, Grace, alongside shots from Malia’s Nike commercial featuring A’ja Wilson that depicted similar images of black girls playing the game pat-a-cake on a stoop.
‘Been sitting with this for a while. My Sundance short film Grace (shot brilliantly by Tehillah de Castro) was made with deep love and care,’ Natalie wrote in the caption.
caption.
‘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…’
Been sitting with this for a while. 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… pic.twitter.com/iy2N2krpQN
— Natalie Jasmine Harris (@nataliejharris) May 6, 2025
Natalie acknowledged that often times art can overlap, but the similarity between her work and Obama’s “hit hard.”
“You’ve poured your heart into telling stories with care and barely get the recognition you deserve,” she wrote. “If brands want a certain look, why not hire from the source instead of for name recognition?”
I’m just going to leave this here.
This is my indie short film, “Grace,” next to Malia Obama’s @Nike x @_ajawilson22 commercial
It’s devastating, but at least you can (hopefully) see that this is about much more than just pat-a-cake…. pic.twitter.com/71m0H5n84z
— Natalie Jasmine Harris (@nataliejharris) May 12, 2025
See Obama’s ad here:
READ MORE at Daily Mail.
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