4-year-old character’s ‘big, beautiful’ Afro has the attention of the internet

Watching a black man attempt to do his daughter’s hair has brought a flood of recognition online, compelling people to pledge more than $75,000 in less than a week to create a Pixar-style animated short about it.

“Hair Love” stars a 4-year-old girl named Zuri who is getting ready for a big day while her mother is away for an event, forcing her father to step up. Matthew Cherry, a former professional football player turned filmmaker with a prolific Twitter presence, launched a Kickstarter to bring Zuri and her father Stephen to life on Monday. The project has resonated with so many people that it has already attracted more than four times the amount he has raised for past film projects.

He reached his goal of $75,000 Saturday afternoon to collaborate with with some of the top black artists in animation and others to create a traditional two-dimensional, 5-minute film. But if he raises $100,000 or more by Aug. 9, he’ll upgrade to a Pixar-style short.

The NewsHour Weekend talked to Cherry about the inspiration behind the project, how people are reacting to it and why it is getting so much attention.

How did you come up with the premise?

I just came across a lot of these viral videos of fathers doing their daughter’s hair, especially black dads doing it. And it’s kind of interesting because on one hand I think it’s really dope, but I

also think it’s kind of sad because obviously these videos are cute and they’re touching and heartwarming, which is why they’re getting a lot of attention, but it’s also sad because I think the main reason a lot of people are sharing these videos is because they see it as an anomaly.

It’s not something that they’re used to seeing. I’m just trying to normalize that because everybody that I know who’s a father, at some point you’re going to have to do your kid’s head even if the wife does it all the time because things come up.

Also, there are all these little articles that you see, people really try to play it up like black men aren’t involved in their kids’ lives and it’s really not that case at all. I mean obviously you have people who aren’t in their kids’ lives, but I feel more often than not we are. That was the big …

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