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Taika Waititi says he's sick of people in Hollywood asking him how to improve diversity

Producer and director Taika Waititi blasted the white power structure in Hollywood for its failure to fix the industry's diversity issues.

Speaking at The Hollywood Reporter's Raising our Voices luncheon on Friday, Waititi called out the industry for looking to underrepresented communities to "fix" the problem of representation.

"Stop asking us what to do, how to fix things, all right? I'm so tired of this," Waititi said. "I'm so tired of the diversity conversation, the inclusivity conversation, all the conversations. All of us want to be working and not having to come and do fucking panels and speeches in the middle of our day."

Waititi, who is Maori and Jewish, said while it's good that the issue is being discussed, it's not enough to simply ask how to fix the problem, but that white decision-makers in Hollywood need to come with their own solutions and ready to give up control to those underrepresented voices.

"You wonder why there is no indigenous stuff out there," Waititi said. "This is the shit you've got us doing. Making us come and talk about the problem and tell you how to fix it. You fucking broke it — you fix it."

Waititi joked that what's currently happening is akin to someone "coming into your house, stealing all of your shit, and burning your house down and then saying, 'OK, we need to talk about this.'"

Instead, Waititi suggested: "You build the fucking house. You burnt it down. I'll come back, and hopefully, you'll get it right, and if you don't get it right, we'll try again."

The "Thor: Ragnarok" director also said that he felt most films and TV shows get diversity wrong.

"What's happening is we're mistaking that for we have to include a person from every single race, and every single background, and every single part of the human experience in every show or everything that we make," he said. "That's not reality, and it's not authentic. I never grew up with a group of friends where there was someone who represented every ethnic group in my group of friends. I don't know who the hell grew up like that."

Instead, he believes that Hollywood needs to work on decolonizing the screen, a term his mentor Merata Mita had coined.

"I don't want to see one token Polynesian character in your show. What I want to see is a fully Polynesian-controlled, Polynesian story that's written by and show run by" a Polynesian person, he said. "When we make our things, don't give us a white showrunner to tell us the rules and tell us how to do things. Let us figure it out, and let us figure out the structure of the story in our own way from our own experience. By decolonizing the screen, what I mean is just don't make it so white."

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by Anonymousreply 52June 18, 2023 10:42 AM

Taika Cohen, er... Waititi is a major nutbag and pain in the ass.

Look on Deadline, 75% of new executives are women and most black women. Aren't they checking off boxes with diversity hires out of nowhere fast enough? The Academy Awards have already decided your film and story aren't winning much unless you shove enough non-whites and "diverse" people like trans and non-binaries in it, so what is he so pissy about?

Anyone acting like "It's not MY JOB to teach you!" should be boiled in oil anyway. I used to follow him on Instagram but he was so fucking exhausting I unfollowed him. He is actually the only person I've ever unfollowed on Instagram!

by Anonymousreply 1June 5, 2023 5:47 PM

Whypipo!

by Anonymousreply 2June 5, 2023 5:53 PM

[quote] I used to follow him on Instagram but he was so fucking exhausting I unfollowed him. He is actually the only person I've ever unfollowed on Instagram!

Lol that's hilarious!

And yes, he's very exhausting.

by Anonymousreply 3June 5, 2023 5:56 PM

😴😴😴😴😴😴😴

by Anonymousreply 4June 5, 2023 5:56 PM

He should fight Jada PS in a cage match.

by Anonymousreply 5June 5, 2023 5:57 PM

R1 BECAUSE IT IS NOT BENEFITING HIM!

Black women, not Polynesian men.

by Anonymousreply 6June 5, 2023 5:58 PM

[quote]"I'm so tired of the diversity conversation, the inclusivity conversation, all the conversations. All of us want to be working and not having to come and do fucking panels and speeches in the middle of our day."

Speak for yourself!

by Anonymousreply 7June 5, 2023 6:00 PM

[quote] "I'm so tired of the diversity conversation, the inclusivity conversation, all the conversations. All of us want to be working and not having to come and do fucking panels and speeches in the middle of our day."

He's such an idiot.

A selfish idiot.

People are asking him because he's a POC who has made it big in Hollywood, and people are asking how others can learn from his success.

It's really selfish of him to say, "I got mine, so now the rest of you can fuck off!"

by Anonymousreply 8June 5, 2023 6:03 PM

I can't stand this "don't ask us how to make things better" shit in the workplace either. If minorities don't get input on how to fix things, they bitch about not having input, not having a "voice", etc. But then you ask them, and they say "don't ask us how to fix it. We shouldn't have to tell you." Make up your minds, or don't expect change.

by Anonymousreply 9June 5, 2023 6:05 PM

I really hate him with a passion, and I honestly don't even know why.

by Anonymousreply 10June 5, 2023 6:06 PM

I actually like him but there are 3500 Māori people in America. I’m guessing that’s why there aren’t more Hollywood made Māori films. Duh.

by Anonymousreply 11June 5, 2023 6:08 PM

[quote] I actually like him but there are 3500 Māori people in America. I’m guessing that’s why there aren’t more Hollywood made Māori films.

Plus, they're not even American.

They're New Zealanders.

So if we're going to talk equity, then every country in the world should have representation in film.

And that's never going to happen.

by Anonymousreply 12June 5, 2023 7:43 PM

Taika resembles Greg Louganis.

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by Anonymousreply 13June 5, 2023 8:12 PM

[quote] Taika resembles Greg Louganis.

And they're both gay, too.

I don't care how many women he pretends to date.

Maybe that's why he's so angry. Being in the closet does that to people.

by Anonymousreply 14June 5, 2023 8:14 PM

He's a hack.

by Anonymousreply 15June 5, 2023 9:13 PM

It’s very entitled to say, there is a problem here. It’s not inclusive enough. And then when people ask, what do you think should be done? To then reply that it’s not your job to participate in coming up with a solution and how dare they even ask. I have this visual in my head of this guy lying on a divan, fanning himself.

by Anonymousreply 16June 5, 2023 9:13 PM

He hasn't been above taking advantage of the push for Diversity And Inclusion, but he's putting his own career first and doesn't want to be sidetracked into helping others. It is selfish, and I doubt h's any nicer than any other hyperambitious Hollywood Shark.

However, I'm not going to bash him for it, because one thing that needs to happen for diversity and inclusion to normalize, is for people from formerly excluded groups to make it to the top, the *very* *top*, and he might be able to do that. Or I hope he's allowed to, because he might currently be suffering the people for most non-white-males who make it close to the top... being sent to Director Hell for one disappointment ("Thor Love and Thunder"), where a white straight man could get away with several flops. He could be in Patty Jenkins territory, "WW2" was a disappointment, and her future projects were cancelled, because only people in the Old Boy's Network are forgiven a flop or two.

by Anonymousreply 17June 5, 2023 10:17 PM

[quote] However, I'm not going to bash him for it, because one thing that needs to happen for diversity and inclusion to normalize, is for people from formerly excluded groups to make it to the top, the *very* *top*, and he might be able to do that.

While denying other people like him, the opportunity to advance their careers.

That's the definition of selfish and self-centered.

by Anonymousreply 18June 5, 2023 10:40 PM

When you put your dick in Rita Ora, your career turns to shit.

by Anonymousreply 19June 5, 2023 10:48 PM

[quote]I never grew up with a group of friends where there was someone who represented every ethnic group in my group of friends. I don't know who the hell grew up like that."

SF Bay Area kids, stand up!

I get what he's saying though. In most places in the world, this doesn't happen.

by Anonymousreply 20June 5, 2023 11:03 PM

Diversity is not about the occasional unusual face to make it to the absolute top in order to act like the usual shits at the absolute top.

by Anonymousreply 21June 5, 2023 11:08 PM

"While denying other people like him, the opportunity to advance their careers."

We don't know that he's denying anyone opportunities, we just know that he isn't doing as much to help others as he could.

Not that I'd know anything about clawing my way to the very top from personal experience, I'm comfy here in the middle, but I suspect that being made a company Director of Inclusion and Diversity is a bit of a career dead end, and that a POC who takes a Diversity Director isn't going to make CEO. So if he doesn't want to be Hollywood's Director of Diversity, there might be reasons other than that he's a selfish bitch. I mean he IS a selfish bitch, so much so that I still can't believe he's straight, but it's not proven that he's a monster.

by Anonymousreply 22June 5, 2023 11:56 PM

[quote]R22: We don't know that he's denying anyone opportunities, we just know that he isn't doing as much to help others as he could.

We don't even know that. What we know is that he's tired of being asked to debrief the white people at the top of the entertainment food chain in what are highly unlikely to even be requests made in good faith. In other words, they want to be 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑛, or 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑑 to be improving diversity without actually altering their own positions in the power structure, or changing their ways of doing things. Continued cooperation and interaction with these types has a way of corrupting or sullying one's own path; one shouldn't do it. Not even 𝑇𝑎𝑟𝑛-𝑋® will take off that kind of stain.

by Anonymousreply 23June 6, 2023 12:25 AM

Waititi is close to the top of the producer/director's food chain, in a place where his competition are people like James Cameron.

And you bet that Cameron didn't get to the top by taking time from his own projects out to work on making Hollywood a more diverse and inclusive place! And at the highest levels, that's actually a career advantage for the straight white men.

by Anonymousreply 24June 6, 2023 12:31 AM

What is he?

by Anonymousreply 25June 6, 2023 12:38 AM

He's aboriginal R25.

New Zealand Aboriginal.

by Anonymousreply 26June 6, 2023 12:45 AM

No one's stopping him! Go ahead and fund the studios and make whatever shit you want. It's always a bad idea to expect any outsider of any culture or group to get the storytelling right.

by Anonymousreply 27June 6, 2023 12:49 AM

Even his name is annoying.

by Anonymousreply 28June 6, 2023 12:41 PM

[quote]He's aboriginal [R25]. New Zealand Aboriginal.

...and half Jewish.

Taika David Cohen

by Anonymousreply 29June 7, 2023 7:05 PM

[quote]Look on Deadline, 75% of new executives are women and most black women. Aren't they checking off boxes with diversity hires out of nowhere fast enough/

Ugh. Hollywood is in deep shit for years to come.

Women and black people are generally terrible leaders.

Black women in positions of power is just a recipe for disaster.

by Anonymousreply 30June 7, 2023 7:13 PM

Please join me in F&F-ing R30.

by Anonymousreply 31June 7, 2023 10:28 PM

He's EXHAUSTED!

by Anonymousreply 32June 7, 2023 11:49 PM

Shouldn’t she come out of the closet first? That penis has never been in a vagina

by Anonymousreply 33June 8, 2023 12:07 AM

[quote]What we know is that he's tired of being asked to debrief the white people at the top of the entertainment food chain in what are highly unlikely to even be requests made in good faith.

We know ABSOLUTELY NOTHING OF THE KIND!

When those seeking to address an issue they know nothing about ask for your observations and suggestions to help solve it, only a raging narcissistic shit bag with an inflated sense of himself would be annoyed being asked to be part of the solution!

Taika David Cohen (later Waititi) is such a conflicted twat one really can't take him seriously.

by Anonymousreply 34June 8, 2023 8:10 PM

R19 that position is already being filled by another actress.

by Anonymousreply 35June 17, 2023 2:29 PM

Then don't bitch when it doesn't happen magically.

by Anonymousreply 36June 17, 2023 2:31 PM

“You fucking broke it”.

Yes, because everyone knows that Hollywood was created by the Maori.

by Anonymousreply 37June 17, 2023 2:31 PM

Yes, he's a Jewish man pretending to be a Pacific Islander.

by Anonymousreply 38June 17, 2023 2:32 PM

He looks very much like Greg Louganis.

by Anonymousreply 39June 17, 2023 2:34 PM

He's the idiot who said nobody remembers who directed Casablanca.

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by Anonymousreply 40June 17, 2023 2:34 PM

Victimhood rhetoric from one of the most powerful people in Hollywood.

by Anonymousreply 41June 17, 2023 2:35 PM

He's not even half Maori, his dad is of Maori descent. But of course he "identifies" with the most oppressed part of his ancestry.

by Anonymousreply 42June 17, 2023 2:40 PM

How is he not half Maori if his father is Maori?

You also don't have to be 100% Maori descendant to be Maori. Many are not. After so many centuries of colonialism you'd expect that to be the case. The difference is that they are culturally Maori.

by Anonymousreply 43June 18, 2023 5:57 AM

Waititi has always been the consummate opportunist. He started his career as Taika Cohen (his mother's maiden name), figuring quite rightly that a Maori Jew would get lots of notice. When he started filmmaking, he reclaimed his Maori father's name, because he could get far more government aid to finance his films as Waititi. He made some excellent, local films as a director in New Zealand, such as Boy and Hunt for the Wilderpeople. Then Hollywood called, where he quickly rose to his loftly level of incompetence and arrogance.

by Anonymousreply 44June 18, 2023 6:09 AM

The genealogists-of-spectrum at EthniCelebs went down the rabbit hole:

[quote]Ethnicity:

[quote]*father – Māori, as well as distant British Isles, possibly 1/16th French-Canadian

[quote]*mother – Irish, English, Scottish, Northern Irish, one quarter Ashkenazi Jewish

[quote]Taika’s paternal grandfather was Eruiti Taika/Edward Waititi (the son of Kainga O Te Ware Waititi and Taupe Waititi). Kainga was the son of Hone Te Ware Waititi and Te Huingamate Pururangi. Taupe was the daughter of Paraone Heremia and Te Owai Wirepa. Te Owai Wirepa’s great-grandfather, Edward William Raper aka Wi Repa, was a white whaler.

[quote]Taika’s paternal grandmother was Matewa Delamere (the daughter of Hiki Manawa Delamere and Rongopouri Poihipi). Hiki was the son of Kohi/Neri/Ned/Edward Delamere and Ngarori Nikorima. Kohi’s father, Samuel/Sam Delamere, was a whaler who married Peti/Irihapeti Te Ha, a Māori woman. Samuel was white, and is often said to have been French-Canadian.

[quote]Taika’s maternal grandfather was David Cohen (the son of Henry/Harry Isaac Cohen and Norah/Nora Baker). Taika’s great-grandfather Henry came to Wellington on the Ruahine in 1913 from London, England. He was the son of Lewis Cohen, who worked as a tailor in Wellington, and of Rachel Annie. They were Jewish, from Novozybkov, Russia. Lewis’s family at one point lived in Edinburgh, Scotland. Taika’s great-grandmother Norah/Nora Baker was born in Christchurch, Christchurch City, Canterbury, New Zealand, and was the daughter Henry Baker and Honora Norah Butler, who were farmers. Henry was Irish, from Portlaw, Waterford. Taika’s great-great-grandmother Honora was born on Lyttleton, South Island, and was the daughter of David Butler and Mary Cull, who were Irish, with roots in County Limerick.

[quote]Taika’s maternal grandmother was Bertha Mary Bond (who likely was the daughter of Percy Randolph Bond and Winifred/Winnie Catherine Ruth Seal). Percy was the son of John Bond and Lavina Frelan/Freelan/Freland/Freeland, who had roots in Rathkeale, Limerick, Ireland. Winifred was the daughter of Thomas William Seal, who was born in Hampshire, England, and of Mary Stokes Wildey, who was born in Dunedin, Dunedin City, Otago, New Zealand. Taika’s great-great-grandmother Mary was the daughter of Benjamin Milton Wildey, who was born in the U.K., and of Catherine Wasen/Wason Munro, who had Scottish ancestry.

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by Anonymousreply 45June 18, 2023 6:17 AM

Even his genealogy is pretentious and annoying!

by Anonymousreply 46June 18, 2023 6:21 AM

So according to his calculations, having one Jewish great-grandfather makes him half Jewish.

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by Anonymousreply 47June 18, 2023 6:45 AM

We had this discussion at work. We did six months worth of racial caucusing, where our entire department met for three hour meetings in two different groups, white, and BIPOC. And this is exactly what we heard from the.BIPOC group.

We need to stop asking people of color how to fix problems that white people created.

So I’m with him on this. Racism is a white person’s problem that affects people of color, and the only people that can fix it are the white people that perpetuate it.

So, I don’t ask people what I can do. I tell them what I can do. And if they want to change my mind, or give me advice, I’m completely receptive.

by Anonymousreply 48June 18, 2023 6:52 AM

The flaw in your logic, R48, is that racism is so systemic in white societies that the people in power can't even see what is a source of oppression unless it's pointed out to them. It was the same with feminism, starting from the 60s. Men thought women were totally happy keeping house for them, and clearly didn't understand what women were saying when they first started complaining.

Saying "Don't ask me what you can do about it" is like women saying to men, "If you really loved me you'd KNOW why you're making me miserable!"

I love Waititi's work (though I don't watch superhero movies so I haven't seen that stuff), but he is always a pain in the ass when appearing in person, no matter what the topic. He was on a show in Australia where it was all Indigenous people who'd had some measure of success, sitting around a table talking about how to further the Indigenous project. And he was an absolute asshole to THEM.

by Anonymousreply 49June 18, 2023 8:02 AM

[Quote] Then Hollywood called, where he quickly rose to his loftly level of incompetence and arrogance.

Don't forget the cocaine.

by Anonymousreply 50June 18, 2023 10:24 AM

Amid the credit roll from "Boy". Waitiki (and the cast) doing his Maori shtick. I do recommend the film (available online for free streaming). It really suits Waitiki far better to highlight New Zealand than franchise nonsense.

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by Anonymousreply 51June 18, 2023 10:38 AM

^^^ closing credit roll

by Anonymousreply 52June 18, 2023 10:42 AM
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