Nickelodeon’s new animated series “Made By Maddie” was supposed to premiere on Sept. 13 on Nick Jr. But that’s no longer happening after its creators were accused of stealing ideas from director Matthew A. Cherry‘s Oscar-winning short “Hair Love.”
Controversy over “Made By Maddie” began when a teaser for it was released last week and people went on social media to say the characters look too similar to those in “Hair Love.”
Made by Paula Rosenthal and Silvergate Media, “Made By Maddie” is about an 8-year-old Black girl named Maddie who lives in New York City and uses “her imagination and design ingenuity to turn every problem into a positive with the perfect fashion fix,” according to Deadline.
“Hair Love” is about a Black father trying to do his daughter’s hair while his wife is in the hospital with cancer.
The dad characters in both projects have their hair locked and both mothers sport curls. Additionally, the little girl in “Hair Love” wears a pink bow and, while Maddie wears a pink headband, with some saying even the cats in both projects look similar.
In July, Cherry and Sony Pictures struck a deal with HBO to adapt “Hair Love” into an animated series that will be called “Young Love.”
“There is having similar ideas then there is taking everything right down to the pink bow on her head,” wrote one Twitter user on Wednesday, Sept. 2.
“How hard is it to not steal????” wrote someone else.
Last week, Nickelodeon released a statement and said they’d pull the series for the time being, until they could investigate.
“Made by Maddie” is a show we acquired several years ago from Silvergate Media, a renowned production company we have previously worked with on other series,” said Nickelodeon. “Since announcing the show’s premiere date this week, we have been listening closely to the commentary, criticism and concern coming from both viewers and members of the creative community.”
“In response, and out of respect to all voices in the conversation, we are removing the show from our schedule as we garner further insight into the creative journey of the show,” the statement continued. “We are grateful to Silvergate Media for all of their work. And we hold Matthew A. Cherry and the wonderful and inspiring ‘Hair Love’ in the highest regard.”
Silvergate Media also issued a statement.
“Silvergate Media has been working on the series for the last five years, and throughout the production has taken steps to ensure a diverse production team and an appropriate voice cast lending their expertise and talent,” said the company’s CEO, Waheed Alli.
Cherry has stayed mum about all of this so far, but a lot of his Instagram followers continue to weigh in, and many are convinced that ideas from “Hair Love” were stolen.
“I hope you sue the cartoon company for copyright infringement,” one person wrote.
