Natalie Jasmine Harris says she “noted a lot of similarities” between her short film and the former First Daughter’s Nike commercial.
Malia Obama accused of copying a filmmaker’s work for her own Nike commercial in the first ad Obama has ever directed.
Director @nataliejharris says she is “devastated” after Malia Obama appears to have copied her work.
“It speaks to larger issue of brands not supporting… pic.twitter.com/6hL7Z0gvtD
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) May 17, 2025
Malia Obama accused of copying a filmmaker’s work for her own Nike commercial in the first ad Obama has ever directed.
Director @nataliejharris says she is “devastated” after Malia Obama appears to have copied her work.
“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,” Harris said.
Harris appears to have hinted at potential future legal action.
“I’d love to hear an attorney’s opinion on this because… (ctrl c + ctrl v),” one commenter on X said.
“We shall see…” Harris replied.
According to the New York Post, the pair had met at the Sundance Film Festival last year, where Harris screened her “Grace” film.
The Nike ad was shared this month.
Malia Obama celebrated a major career accomplishment when she directed her first commercial this month, but one fellow filmmaker isn’t too happy. On Friday, filmmaker Natalie Jasmine Harris spoke to Business Insider to detail the concerning similarities between the Obama-directed Nike ad and her own 2024 short film, Grace. Specifically, Harris, 27, took issue with a sequence in the ad featuring two young Black girls playing pat-a-cake in a setup she says looks “shockingly similar” to an early scene in Grace. Harris’ short screened at last year’s Sundance Film Festival, where the director says she met Obama, 26, whose own short, The Heart, also premiered. While hesitant to call Obama’s ad a direct ripoff of Grace, Harris says she and her filmmaking team have “noted a lot of similarities” between the two, “from the camera angles to the shots to the framing composition and the color palette.” On May 5, she posted a shot-by-shot comparison to X, writing, “I know art often overlaps, but moments like this hit hard.” However, Harris says she isn’t frustrated with Obama herself, but with the “larger issue of brands not supporting independent artists and opting for folks who already have name recognition.” “If they wanted these shots that were similar to my shots,” Harris told Business Insider, “Why not hire me to direct?”
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