Do we like Taika Waititi?
Our score: 7 out of 10. Decent record, strong on Indigenous and queer storytelling, held back by old mocking tweets about trans women that he hasn't publicly addressed.
Waititi is a Māori filmmaker who went from quirky Kiwi comedy to an Oscar for Jojo Rabbit and a run of big-studio films, including Thor: Love and Thunder. By his own account he's been fed up with Hollywood for a while, calling it “just sad people eating lukewarm food out of cardboard boxes in offices.” He told AP he wants to find a way out of the machine.
The stain on his record is a set of old tweets that resurfaced in 2022. PinkNews reported that in 2013 he mocked trans women's appearance in a pageant exchange, and in 2015 he made a joke at Caitlyn Jenner's expense using her former name. PinkNews said he'd been contacted for comment and hadn't publicly addressed them. That's a real mark, and it's the reason for the asterisk.
Against that, his work since has leaned the other way. In a 2023 PinkNews interview about Next Goal Wins, he talked about the acceptance of fa'afafine people in Samoan culture, calling it “sacred and an honoured thing”. He chose not to stop the film to explain a trans character's identity to the audience. Whether that makes up for the tweets is your call, but it's a lot more than silence.
The other shadow is Time Bandits, the Apple TV+ series he co-created. In 2024 actor Charlyne Yi alleged on Instagram that they were physically assaulted by an actor and psychologically abused on set, without naming anyone. Paramount said it investigated; a co-showrunner told Variety HR ran a full investigation. Waititi isn't accused of anything in the reporting we read, but it's his show.
The good stuff is real. After Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 he promoted a fundraiser of Māori-made films, with all proceeds going to hard-hit East Coast communities, and he's a regular champion of Indigenous storytellers.
So: would we support him? Mostly yes. He's funny, kind in the ways that can be checked, and has used his platform for Māori and queer stories. The old trans-mocking tweets are the one thing we'd want him to speak to, and he hasn't. That's why it's a 7 and not a 9.