The trailer to Lena Waithe’s new show, Girls Room, was just released. But a rising filmmaker was more than shocked when she watched it and Waithe is now facing accusations that she stole the project.

According to Deadline, Waithe’s Girls Room is an anthology series that “will explore the pain and power of female adolescence as told through the eyes of an inter-connected group of girls.”

The project was greenlit in May 2019 through the Emmy winner’s production company. It’s one of the first scripted projects for media company ATTN: and it’s also partnering with Dove’s self-esteem campaign for young girls.

While the show sounds well-intentioned and poised to make a positive impact, it’s now being surrounded by controversy after screenwriter Nina Lee accused Waithe of stealing her idea.

After viewing the trailer, Lee was not impressed and believes Waithe’s show is a rip-off of her 2017 project, The Girls Room.

“This looks awful,” she tweeted.

In a follow-up tweet, Lee included the poster art for her project The Girls Room which looks very similar to Waithe’s show.

“Even the way her show is colored is oddly similar, I have to laugh,” she added in another tweet.

Lee eventually explains that her 2017 project was shelved after losing most of their footage on the last day of shooting. She tried to crowdfund and hoped others within the industry would offer help, but the efforts were unsuccessful.

Many on Twitter sympathized with Lee and dragged Waithe for stealing another black woman’s art.

Some even criticized her for naming the Girls Room characters after the Little Rock Nine, the group of black teenagers who integrated Little Rock Central High School in 1957.

Waithe has not responded to Lee’s accusations.

Lee has received much support and even job opportunities since sharing her story on Twitter.

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