Marsai Martin may never beat the allegations that she is the little girl from the infamous “Do it for the Vine” post that went viral in 2014. Several of the defunct social media app’s most popular clips have recently reemerged as a thread on X, where fans have been adding their favorites.
Among the clips is one of a little Black girl dressed in a black leotard, white tights, and a pair of eyeglasses. An older girl sits nearby and repeatedly says, “Do it for the Vine,” to which the little girl responds, “I ain’t gon’ do it,” until she does it — a series of quick dance movements.
With attention once again directed to the clip, Martin issued a friendly reminder to fans: “Y’all do know this isn’t me right? Lol,” she wrote on X while re-sharing a tweet of the video. Her followers lunged into her replies, telling her to “Prove it,” as they jokingly pushed back at her for setting the record straight.
“I really thought it was you lol,” said one person who noticed the resemblance between the dance princess and the actress. Another person wrote, “this is our story and you are in it okay Marsai.”
Someone also commented, “adorable black girl in glasses: the internet: MARSAI MARTIN.” While a fourth person insisted, “No girl, we don’t know that that’s not you!! maybe if the internet finds the girl in this everybody will leave you alone.”
As it turns out, the little girl from the Vine is still online and creating content. Aniya Kennedy, 15, has a presence on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, where she shares mini-vlogs, and on YouTube, where viewers can get a deeper glimpse into her life. In a July Q&A, she explained that she was 6 years old and at a dance recital when the viral post was recorded.
Around the time that everyone was getting a kick out of little Kennedy, Martin was making her prime time TV debut on ABC’s “black-ish.” The 19-year-old starred on the hit series from for eight seasons, from 2014 to 2022, alongside Anthony Anderson, Tracee Ellis Ross, Laurence Fisburne, Jennifer Lewis, Marcus Scribner, Yara Shahidi, and Miles Brown.
