
There’s nothing wrong with taking up a stage name, some do it for simplicity while some do it for image building. Whoopi Goldberg got behind Barack Obama’s daughter Malia as the latter chose to drop her famous last name and professionally go by Malia Ann on her latest project The Heart.
The View host Whoopi Goldberg had a thing or two to say to people who started trolling Malia on the name change. Whoopi said, "Apparently some folks online are criticising her for it claiming everyone knows she's an Obama, so it's pointless to hide it."
Whoopi said that it's beyond the debate of who knows her and who doesn’t. Malia Obama is not the first person to change or tweak her name to make it in Hollywood. Whoopi herself changed her name from Caryn Elaine Johnson as her career took off.
Whoopi added, "If 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 MacDonald, she has the right to! If I can be Whoopi Goldberg, she can be whoever the hell she wants to be!"
"I mean why are people triggered by this kind of stuff?" she asked on The View’s latest episode before asking "Why are people wasting their time?"
She added, "Leave this child alone. Leave her alone."
Meanwhile, Malia Obama is enjoying the limelight as her career has skyrocketed post her directorial debut The Heart premiered at Sundance. She has also added a staff writer credit on the Amazon Prime show Swarm to her resume.
Malia is “somebody who’s gonna have really good things coming soon,” said Swarm show creator Donald Glover who added that the famous parents didn't play a role in how she was treated on set. He said, "I feel like she's just somebody who's gonna have really good things coming soon. Her writing style is great.”
Donald’s brother Stephen Glover added, "We can't be easy on her just because she's the [former] President's daughter."