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Malia Obama is officially a film director! The eldest child of former POTUS Barack Obama made her directional debut at the Sundance Film Festival for The Heart but many oppose her use of the Monicker Malia Ann, dropping her famous surname. Her 18-minute short film, which she wrote and directed “tells the story of a lonely man grieving the death of his mother” while dealing with an odd request in her will. Completely ignoring the promising plot, most reviewers focused on the directorial credits accorded simply as Malia Ann. They bashed the 25-year-old’s decision to drop her dad’s surname, tagging it as a failed effort to avert the imminent nepo baby criticism. However, Whoopi Goldberg isn’t having any of that, valiantly coming to Malia Obama’s defense.
Whoopi Goldberg Defends Malia Obama for Dropping Last Name
During her appearance on The View on Wednesday, Whoopi found herself relating to Malia’s situation after the hot topic came up. The moderator voiced her amusement at those triggered by the former First daughter’s use of Malia Ann in favor of Obama. According to Whoopi Goldberg, Malia Obama had the right to call herself whatever she deemed suitable in her directorial debut or any other aspect of her life. She fired,
““She knows she’s an Obama, why do you care? Why do you care what she calls herself? If she wanted to call herself Jeanette McDonald, she has the right to! If I can be Whoopi Goldberg, she can be whoever the hell she wants to be!”
Going further, Whoopi Goldberg described the criticism of Malia Obama’s name choice in The Heart as a waste of time. Surely, the Sister Act star is in the best position to comment on this, having changed names herself at the onset of her Hollywood career. The actress, whose real name is Caryn Elaine Johnson opted for Whoopi Goldberg to have a stage name more suited for Hollywood.
In The Heart director Malia Obama’s case, that’s unlikely to be the case given her last name has a nice ring to it. The general consensus is that the first daughter of Michelle and Barack Obama chose to drop her famous last name to break free of her parent’s shadows, ultimately avoiding the nepo baby tag. That hasn’t exactly panned out well for her.
As most critics pointed out, it would take more than a name change for a former First Daughter of the United States to avoid soaring in her parent’s vast influence. Hence, whether making her directorial debut as Malia Obama or Malia Ann, the world will always recognize the face, family, and influence behind the monicker.
The View Hosts Stand Behind Malia
Fellow The View host Joy Behar also gave her two-pence on the youngster’s choice of name on The Heart. Like Whoopi Goldberg, she admittedly had no issues with Malia Obama’s decision. However, she saw no adequate reason for Malia to drop her last name as it had a “good vibe.”. Alyssa Farah Griffin pointed out that the criticism would still have surfaced in any case. She divulged,
“If she was running for congress in Illinois and was like, ‘I’m running as Malia Ann,’ I’d be like, ‘That’s too cute by a half, you’re obviously an Obama following in Obama’s footsteps. But she’s doing her own thing!”
The debate around the name is quite alarming considering the ongoing campaign against celebrities riding on the nepo baby train. One would think having a budding star try actively to beat the train would be lauded. Then again, the internet is one unpredictable reality that Malia Obama has to come to terms with her own way to survive her chosen career path.
