Critics are criticizing Malia Obama for her professional name

Malia Obama has transformed over the years and is trying to escape her parents' shadow. She was accepted into the 2024 Sundance Film Festival for her short film 'The Heart,' which she wrote and directed. However, her chosen professional name quickly overshadowed what should have been a huge milestone in her career. In a Sundance Institute 'Meet the Artist 2024' video on YouTube, the eldest Obama daughter spoke briefly about her work while stills from the film flashed on the screen. It is noticeable that the Harvard graduate was listed as Malia Ann, not Malia Obama. Some saw Malia's decision to use her middle name instead of her surname as an attempt to establish herself as an independent artist, separate from her family's White House legacy. However, others criticized her for changing her name to avoid accusations of nepotism. The internet was divided on Malia's new name. The comment section of Malia Obama's Sundance spotlight video received mixed reactions. Some YouTube users were excited to see the eldest Obama daughter forging her professional path. However, others were not impressed and accused her of trying to avoid the nepotism charge by using her middle name. One user commented, 'Not her trying to skip the repo baby discourse by using her middle name like we all know you're Obama's daughter.' Another user wrote, 'Good for her, but trying to avoid the nepotism charge isn't gonna work.' Many commenters suggested that Obama's parents were why 'The Heart' was accepted into the highly competitive Sundance Film Festival. This was due to Malia's relatively short filmmaking career. She landed her first showbiz gig as a production assistant for 'Extant' 2014. The following year, Obama worked as a writer's aide for 'Girls.' She briefly worked with The Weinstein Company in 2017 and later served as a writer on Donald Glover's series 'Hive.' Screening a film at Sundance early in one's career is not unheard of. Malia is not the only former first daughter to distance herself from her presidential father. In September 2023, Ivanka Trump chose to go by 'Iva' during a low-key Maui trip while distributing food to families affected by the Hawaii wildfires. Malia and Ivanka will need to do more than change their names to distance themselves from their family's legacies, regardless of their motivations.