‘Michelle Obama’s podcast has the same name as ours – we might lose money’

Michelle Obama has become the latest high-profile figure to enter the podcast space with her new series IMO (short for In My Opinion), but there’s just one major hitch. 

The former First Lady of the United States – and doting wife of ex-President Barack Obama – launched her brand new podcast In My Opinion in March. Michelle and her brother and co-host Craig Robinson, sit down each week to discuss typical life experiences with politics, perhaps surprisingly, largely off the menu. 

However, what Michelle, 61, and Craig, 62, might not have realised is that there is already a well-established podcast in the UK with the exact same name. 

In My Opinion, the UK podcast also known as IMO like Michelle’s show, was launched during lockdown in 2020 by three close friends – Uzome, Mulinde and DT – who sit down and share their thoughts and feelings on everything from race issues to career, friendship and relationships. 

They were shocked and disheartened to see that Michelle had announced the arrival of her new podcast with the same name as theirs. 

Sharing the immediate effect of the name clash, Mulinde told Metro: ‘It’s definitely impacted our engagement. How many people come through to us via search, we’ve definitely seen an impact on that. We’re still trying to quantify what that impact has been. 

‘But it’s not even just about the podcast – it’s even impacted us emotionally. Michelle Obama, I don’t think she’s done this maliciously, I don’t even think she even knows about this. It’s just one of those David and Goliath things, where we are smaller creators. I’m pretty sure if we were on Mr. Beast’s level, and her team had done their research, I’d be like, “Do you know what? No, someone else has got it, it’s fine”.’

‘But it’s because we’re smaller creators,’ he added. 

The trio went viral when they shared an emotional video on Instagram, explaining their desperate situation and how their revenue could be impacted. 

Among the outpouring of support they received in the comments, the recurring question asked by many was: Well, did you trademark the name? 

Yes, In My Opinion was trademarked by the male-led podcast in 2021 but they couldn’t afford to extend that to the US being an independent show just starting out. 

This means that Michelle’s podcast hasn’t done anything legally wrong, but the impact is still being felt regardless. 

Mulinde said: ‘We’ve got a lot of our following in America. Could we get in legal trouble, because she’s obviously registered the trademark in America? Could that prevent us from touring there? Could that prevent us from trying to merchandise in America? 

‘So there’s a lot of that worry. 

‘We don’t have big money to go to court and do litigation and stuff like that. You know, we’re all working guys. We’ve all still got full-time jobs.’ 

He added: ‘The impact has definitely been more emotional at the moment, but I’m pretty sure, once we’re able to quantify the financial impact, the worry will continue to deepen.’ 

The podcaster clarified that while they haven’t received their latest financial statement yet, they have already taken a blow to their YouTube views which are now lower than the same time last year. Their TikTok views are also down 27% in the last month since Michelle launched her podcast. 

‘So this will inevitably have an impact on our earnings via the Creator Programmes, which is one of our main sources of income,’ he revealed.

‘We believe the fact Mrs Obama’s podcast has taken over the search results for “IMO Podcast” is really starting to impact our searchability as well as our views on these platforms.’ 

There will be some critics, of course, who will accuse the IMO boys of trying to increase their popularity off of Michelle’s name, but Mulinde insists that’s far from the case. 

‘This isn’t about us clout chasing,’ he stated. ‘This is more so about us trying to protect our brand and our voices because we don’t have the big machine that Mrs. Obama has. We don’t have the popularity that she has, but we have managed to build a community of voices. 

‘Seeing the feedback we got from our community, honestly, I can’t even put it into words, we were so appreciative. It was overwhelming, absolutely overwhelming.’ 

However, he has acknowledged the ‘silver lining’ in that their name is now linked to Michelle’s which isn’t such a bad problem to have on one hand. 

Ultimately, the British podcasters just want to find a resolution that works for them all. 

‘I’m pretty sure if she actually knew, if by some miracle this news gets to her, I feel like she would do something about it,’ Mulinde said acknowledging that Michelle is likely in her own bubble completely oblivious to their plight. 

He added: ‘Our goal is to ensure that both podcasts can thrive and continue making a positive impact in their own unique ways.’ 

Metro has reached out to Michelle Obama’s reps for comment.

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