Māori director Taika Waititi hits out at Hollywood and its tokenistic roles

Taika Waititi speaks onstage during The Hollywood Reporter Raising Our Voices DEIA Luncheon. Photo / Getty Images

Hot shot Māori director Taika Waititi has hit back at Hollywood’s tokenism and its view on diversity.

The New Zealand film maker and comedian said Hollywood’s warped view was wrong and confusing.

“The idea of diversification off the screen is not quite right because it’s actually confusing everyone,” Waititi said at a conference in the US.

“What’s happening is we are mistaking that for we have to include every single race and every single background and ever single part of the human experience in every show and every thing that we make.

“That’s not reality and that’s not authentic.”

Waititi said his own background showed just how out of whack Hollywood’s view to have all peoples of all races included in films is.

“I never grew up with a group of friends, where there was someone to represent every ethnic group in my group of friends,” he said.

“I don’t want to see one token Polynesian character in your shows because it’s weird unless it makes sense.

“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 decolonising the screen, what I mean is just don’t make it so white.”