He currently stars in and exec produces the queer-focused pirate comedy Our Flag Means Death. After Waititi told audience members at a screening of Love and Thunder that the film would be “super gay”, queer Marvel fans were disappointed to learn that the film’s actual LGBT+ content was rather minimal (a same-sex kiss on the hand being the meagre highlight). Some have branded his approach to his Thor films queerbaiting – using the promise of on-screen queerness as a marketing strategy, while failing to deliver in the work itself. Waititi has elsewhere seemed to encourage a personal following among queer fans. Waititi has strived to position himself as a force for positive change within the typically heteronormative space of blockbuster filmmaking. To some extent, the more pertinent critiques of Waititi and his relationship to queerness are contemporary. But the process is always the same, and, more often than not, ends in a grovelling apology. (Waititi has yet to respond to the criticisms he has received The Independent has contacted a representative for comment.) Not all of these transgressions are as serious as others, of course. I’m sure few would argue that Waititi’s tweets merit the same backlash as Rogan’s past use of the “N-word” or Harris’s decision to serve a meat platter modelled after Amy Winehouse’s decaying corpse at a Halloween party. In the past year or two, we’ve seen this happen with celebrities including (off the top of my head) actors Neil Patrick Harris and Ellie Kemper, comedians Joe Rogan and Randy Rainbow, game show presenter Ken Jennings – and many, many more. After the offending material is circulated online sufficiently widely, the celebrity is forced to acknowledge their wrongdoing and vows to change, in a standardised act of self-preservation: repentance as brand management. Micro-scandals like this – online PR setbacks that never threaten to actually jeopardise a career – usually follow the same sort of pattern. But even if we all agree that his tweets are objectionable, is diving 10 years into the past for a quick “gotcha” really doing anyone any good? Responses have ranged from disappointment, to demands for an apology, to somewhat gleeful condemnation. but you’re right, actual kathoey are better looking.” (“Kathoey” is a Thai term with a complex history of meanings related to transgender people, particularly women.) Waititi was not a well-known public figure at the time – a small role in Green Lantern and his relatively obscure indie film Boy were his most noteworthy credits – so the remarks failed to elicit any substantial backlash until now. I should have just said their make-up looks manly.” Another tweet saw him write: “My trans friends can walk in heels. After making a string of disparaging comments about a beauty pageant, he wrote: “No disrespect to men who want to be/dress as women. The tweets – shared by Waititi almost a decade ago, in January 2013 – were, many have argued, transphobic and offensive.
The 46-year-old New Zealander recently directed the Marvel blockbuster Thor: Love and Thunder, and was in the news yesterday (9 August) following his surprise wedding to pop star Rita Ora. The latest celebrity to be caught in a “resurfaced tweets” furore is filmmaker and actor Taika Waititi. The moment they rise above the water, the gulls descend. Problematic tweets, offensive interview clips, racist comedy sketches: these are the things that tend to “resurface” in the modern era. Not in the sense of a swimmer coming up for air between strokes – more like a bloated corpse washing up on the shore after being inadequately weighted down. It’s a word you see everywhere online these days. Taika Waititi did playfully feign forgetfulness when discussing Green Lantern with Games Radar, even going as far as to say, “I’ve never heard of it.” But in all seriousness, he personally loves when an actor has the comfort to be self-deprecating about past work.Resurfacing. The thing is, it’s like when people shy away from things, and they don’t want to admit they’ve done something, or they don’t ever reference it, I find it worse. I find it really funny that I did that film. No, that type of thing is great, because Ryan and I have both got a similar sense of humor in regards to things like that. In fact, Waititi doesn’t like the idea of totally ignoring one’s past work: This allows the two of them to reflect on the more lackluster aspects of their careers with humor.
#Taika waititi green lantern for free#
Both Taika Waititi and Ryan Reynolds, who more recently reteamed for Free Guy, are very similar in their brand of humor, a point that Waititi acknowledges.
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