Photo by Darren Gerrish/Getty Images
A South African content creator, Onezwa Mbola, recently accused TikTok megastar Nara Smith of stealing her cooking content.
Times Live reports the 22-year-old vehemently denied the defamatory accusations.
Onezwa, who has over 572,000 followers on TikTok and competed on ‘MasterChef South Africa’ in 2022, recently posted videos stating Smith stole her content.
According to the outlet, her cooking style has been continuously compared to Nara’s on the platform. Onezwa stated that people are calling her “the South African Nara Smith.”
She apparently felt slighted by the phrase, stating, “How am I the South Africa Nara Smith when she’s stealing my content?”
Onezwa posted several emotional videos on her Instagram Story about the matter. She alleged that while she cannot benefit from her content since South African creators are not paid, Nara has allegedly become wealthy by stealing her work. The mom of three has amassed a huge following of 7.8 million on TikTok.
Onezwa explained to her followers that she “[took] a break” because she “[has] watched a very popular content creator use [her] ideas.” She said, “[Nara] has continuously used my ideas to get views. That would be fine, except in SA, we don’t get paid for views, and where she is, they are paid for views.” The content creator stated, “She has been making money by stealing my content.”
Additionally, Onezwa shared that she was “disheartened” and “heartbroken” since Nara is “making a lot of money in views.” She said that she is “lucky to get a brand collaboration.” Furthermore, Mbola stated that it is “no longer worth it” to make content.
The South African creator also came with receipts…kinda. Onezwa explained that after she posted a video making boba tea, Nara created a video doing the same and posted it the following day. Mbola said, “…I was very proud of that video. The next day, she made a boba tea video. You might say it’s a coincidence, except it happens very often.”
Nara allegedly swiftly responded. Onezwa showed an email from the 22-year-old accusing her of “damaging [Nara’s] reputation.” Furthermore, she stated that the “allegations were entirely false.” Moreover, Smith said that if she did not “retract [her] statements,” she was taking baby girl to court! Nara “[urged] Oneza to take the “matter seriously.”
See the alleged email below.
In an update shared to TikTok this week, Onezwa Mbola said she won’t stop making her cooking videos. Instead, she doubled down on Nara Smith “stealing ideas from small content creators.”
See how she directly clapped back at Nara and other critics below.
