Taika Waititi Addresses Hollywood's Issues in Diversity & Inclusion: "What's Taking So Long?"
At THR's Raising Our Voices luncheon, Taika Waititi addresses not preparing a speech in solidarity with WGA's writers strike and quickly points out Hollywood's issues in diversity and inclusion.
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#TaikaWaititi #RasingOurVoices #THR
Taika Waititi Addresses Hollywood's Issues in Diversity & Inclusion: "What's Taking So Long?"
The Hollywood Reporter
/ hollywoodreporter
tbh he can start off like he's not saying anything serious but then 3:45 with him "if ai can answer that in eight seconds...what's taking so long?" and i'm GASPING
i love him so much
@@alenayushkevich8159 Learn how to use the English language.
Chur your the man bro🤙🏾 You really do make us Māori people proud my bro
Mad, hilarious rambling that ends up painting a profound portrait of what it is to be human. Classic Taika.
-- 😊😊😊😊😊
*Cohen
I freaking love this man’s originality of thought, humour and f-it energy.
I'm a white guy who grew up mostly around kids of color. Seeing White Steve in Reservation Dogs...it just (chokes up) really made me happy to finally see myself represented on-screen (wipes tears)!
Grow up
“Just seeing different faces. That’s what it’s all about.” Yes
As long as it’s not white…how not racist of him
@@drooster1219 he literally said at the end succession is one of his favourite shows and is necessarily white.
I put my hand up to you, Taika. You've said enough facts that are true and make a lot of SENSE!! It is absolutely relatably understandable because, in reality, so much of that burden has been planted on us that we've got to tell them to lift off of us since we know our role to play in this place now. So many of our indigenous people people have made themselves suffer that now we're the ones mostly put to the side and treated like a scaled fish. I raise my utmost respect to his speech and hilarious jokes that spoke. legend with an absurd way of interpretation. Nonetheless, stretch the boundary. I appreciate his art, but most importantly, his picture of the world. I LOVE YOU TAIKA😂🎉🎉❤😮
Who’s your grandma and then question “what is cousins really”😂😂😂
Someone in hollywood talking sense at last... never saw that coming.
He only had one decent point on tokenism. The rest was anti-white bigoted nonsense.
@@thebobo1229He told the truth if hurts your feelings get over it
@@wrestlinganime4life288o 👍🏼 He told “YOUR TRUTH”. Problem is , you Critical Race Theorists wanna continue jamming YOUR “truth” down everyone’s throat . The Christians, too , specialized in jamming “their” truth down everyone’s throat. You people are simply the NEW religion on the block Won’t last though ✌️
Tēnā koe brother...... Merata Mita💯🌿🕊️💚
Taika has lost the plot .....again.
@@purefoldnz3070 ssshhhh.....🤫. Shuuuush🤐
Decolonialization not diversity. Genius. Ty for posting!
Yeah exclusion>inclusion right
Decolonization? What?
@@tmac326basically rather than pulling a Brigderton, explore different cultures, myths and stories by the different people duh
💚🌿✊🏾💚 I hope Taika Waititi stays true to himself amidst the pressures of Hollow-wood.
Yeah, forced diversity and hiring based on one not being a specific race, instead of hiring the best person for the job, is a massive problem.
Very wise words Taika!
❤exactly thank you 🙏🏾
Can confirm, as someone who did grow up with a diverse group of friends, Hollywood has continued to ignore me.
And so many people continue to complain Hollywood is too "woke" as it is. It boggles the mind to be honest.
That's pure stupidity. Hollywood isn't making a movie about you or your particular group of friends, neither is Bollywood or the Hong Kong movie industry. They're generally making movies that reflect society, or more typically an average in society.
@@LordLOC that's because Hollywood is too weak
@@meginna8354 That is what he tried to say but you missed the point.
@@FraususemilDon't speak for others. They said what they said.
Intriguing
Absolutely
"I never grew up with a group of friends where there was someone who represented every ethnic group " Cliff Curtis left the chat😂😂😂 (They probably didn't grow up together anyway )
They did next to each other Taika is Te Whanau a Apanui & Cliff Te Arawa
what do you know? they are family😲
What I find weird is modern series depicting period pieces like the Victorian era (white, black and Asian princesses hanging out together ftw) where they represent everyone equally when there were TOTAL class and ethnic divides. It’s not right, but that was reality, I wouldn’t want younger audiences to think “everyone wasn’t super racist in the past” when they 100% were.
Awesome
Just a heads up that when he starts talking about how unauthentic forced diversity is is at the 5:30 mark. He does a brilliant job!
This makes automatic sense if your from Aotearoa (New Zealand) definitely has the Maori (Native people of Aotearoa, New Zealand) swag and styla (local Polynesian slang, styla = style). Chur my Maori!
His name is David Cohen. He's Jewish lol.
@@mjanny6330 That's not the first thing you think about when you first look at him tho.
@@mjanny6330 you don't get to decide anyone's ethnicity or identity, except for your own. Taika is Māori, with Jewish ancestry, and no doubt many others. Like most of us in Aotearoa he has mixed ancestry. That doesn't make any of us only one thing or another.
@@mjanny6330 his name is Taika David Cohen, get it right. And Waititi is his dad’s last name
He's sold... say no more, Jewish? everyone who's had a taste of Hollywood is suddenly Jewish
Kia ora Mr Taititi x
Aw this guy
Gotta love him :)
Love this speech! ❤❤❤
Nominee for Best KZhead Video of 2023❤
It would have been nice if Tiaka cast an actual Jewish girl to play the role of the Jewish girl who was hidden in the attic in Jo Jo Rabbit. Sarah Silverman spoke on this. The famous screenwriter Neil Simon had a famous saying, " Write Yiddish cast British". It would be nice if things changed but I'm not keeping my hopes up.
he's half jewish too, i think he can do whatever he wants
It's kind of funny that he cast a Jewish woman as the Gentile mom though.
8:20 + taika speaks truth, who had it worst😂, yes my friend, try to stay out of who had it worst conversations, it's useless to address these things.
We’ll said. ❤
*Well
Brilliant
Ka mau ta wehi- Taika... all power to your hand... mai murihiku au, Kawarau te awa. NOT Kawerau! I am from the deep deep south, na Kaki Whero ahau ;)
'I am Taika Waititi, and I have had enough!'
Some people are so misguided. The fact that they don’t know how diverse ALL of Asia is, is ignorance that comes from lack of representation. It’s also a misunderstanding of how to actually diversify media. The “one of each race” approach is the June lgbt corporation money grab of diversity. Representation is diversifying stories that get told. Representation IS an all black cast from the Bronx. An immigrant Indian family in all white Canadian community. Indigenous people trying to keep their languages and cultures alive. Basically, there’s not a singular solution to representation.
Also, my friend group growing up was the whole black white latino south asian east asian melange, but I had a cousin in the next city over where majority of the population was white. I saw firsthand how it’s really not that universal of an experience.
Taika Waititi wants to perform Fantastic Beasts and Taika Waititi is gonna be in PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie
He defo has ADHD lmao
0:49, 3:55?, - symbolism 6:24 not reading teleprompter 10:09 - 12:43
Verily I say unto you this is a Holy man.
Taika nailed it imo
why? hes mixed race. His mother is white. Bit rich dont you think to say that what he said when hes more colonizer than colonized
@@alicegw3913 He said 'you broke it, you fix it' so he thinks the current generation of white people should fix any damage done by previous generations of white people. He believes that the son should pay for the sins of the father. So why is he exempt? Why shouldnt he pay for the sins of his white ancestors?
@@alicegw3913 I think you misunderstand his point. He said you burned the house down, you need to rebuild it. Who do you think hes referring to when he says you burned the house down? Steven spielberg?
nope. there's already a diversity checklist in Hollywood.
@@josephl9619 look no one knows what he was talking about tbh.
This was great. Great speech from Taika. Decolonize the industry.
moronic comment. If it were true he wouldnt have the career he has.
@@TT-jy2db Nope, that's not what it means at all. Basically it means not having white people in charge of almost every production. He explains what it means in detail, maybe you should actually watch the video. Or if you already have then I'm happy to go into more detail about what that means if he didn't explain it clearly. But no, it doesn't mean no white people, he explicitly said that it doesn't mean that.
@@TT-jy2db That's not true... That's just antisemitism. Embarrassing that you believe conspiracy theories like that. White people have almost all the say, you don't know what you are talking about. Hollywood is completely controlled by white people.
@itcouldbelupus2842: Hmm 🤔. That’s funny because I believe diversity quotas are ways to look a peoples skin color instead of their content. Why do you want to have a racial breakdown of all the people on set? Why can’t you look at someone’s character and not the color of their skin? Honestly, I think people who preach this diversity nonsense are secret racists.
@ItCouldBe Lupus it's literally a code word for "erase the whites" funny how they never worry about "diversity" in places like Africa and the Middle East.
これでやっと やっと アメリカのポリコレの暴走が終わるのか 政治のことばっかりに気を取られた作品は見るに堪えないから助かる 多様性は、作品全体の丁寧かつ巧妙なローカライズで費用を掛けて補って欲しいね
Bro was spittin.
spittin straight nonsense.
@@purefoldnz3070 it's not nonsense, and you won't explain how it is.
@@itcouldbelupus2842 just did. Sorry but not sorry.
@@purefoldnz3070 no you didn't. Do you not know what the word explained means? Give one reason why this is nonsense. Saying it's nonsense isn't an explanation.
@@itcouldbelupus2842 he must be high on the methane of his own farts again, well that would explain Love and Blunder being worse than explosive diarrhea. Taika mentioned: “It’s like someone coming into your house, stealing all of your s*** and burning your house down and then saying ‘okay, we need to have a talk about this.’ And then, saying ‘now, you’re gonna rebuild your house and what can we give you to help you rebuild your house that we burnt down” ??????????????????????? Great speech Taika. Now go back suffering from the lack of diversity in your big mansion while having threesomes with the cast of Thor and international singer Rita Ora.
who had it worse? that is a very divisive saying and it's true
Well said Taika and ChatGPT
He's close to being right, I don't think he's using decolonise right
Does Hollywood talk about anything else?
The point is for Hollywood to do something, not just talk about it. Decolonize the industry.
@ItCouldBe Lupus decolonize something invented by Europeans, and run by Jewish people lol.
@@mjanny6330 art belongs to everyone, it doesn't matter who invented it. Jewish people do not run Hollywood, that's a very old antisemitic conspiracy theory that is an actual joke these days, and yet you seem to believe it sincerely, which is very concerning. You've obviously not understood what decolonize means in this context, you seem out of your depth.
@@itcouldbelupus2842 which is never going to happen. It's an industry run and controlled by essentially John Smith.. You think he's gonna give up that easily?
@@wrestlinganime4life288 John Smith?
7:50 I agree, with most of what Taika Waititi said but he then slides back to the same thin version of identity politics that got us in this mess from the beginning. It shouldn't be a crime for white creator to tell a non-white story, you don't have to be of the same ethnicity to have empathy or be educated about experiences of someone who doesn't share the same skin color. Yes, we should have more non-white creators telling non-white stories, however those non-white creators should NOT be limited to only telling stories about characters who share the same skin color as them. If an Asian filmmaker want to tell a black story and are great storyteller, they should be able to tell that story. I think trying to police who gets to tell these stories is exactly the reason diversity and representation isn't moving fast enough in Hollywood.
It doesn't work like that. I'm sorry but certain sorry MUST be told by a specific perspective and considering the long lasting history of Hollywood misrepresented POC.... You can't blame them for not trusting white creators. Look at the difference between green book and Blackkklansman, when non white directors tell story about race they tend to be very sanitsed or too simplistic.
@@wrestlinganime4life288 Er, Blackklansman? You do realize that black people including the black director of Sorry to bother You have issues with Blackklansmen right? I'm sorry, but your type of thinking is rather tired and outdated. You seem to under the impression that race is monolith when it's not, claiming that white creators can't be trusted is reductive identity politics that is inaccurate to how race actually operates and gets us nowhere. Being a POC does NOT automatically mean you can accurately represent an entire community. That is why arguments against so-called cultural appropriation are deeply flawed. British writer Kenan Malik says it best. v "What is really being appropriated, in other words, is not culture but the right to police cultures and experiences, a right appropriated by those who license themselves to be arbiters of the correct forms cultural borrowing. Such policing is deeply problematic, both artistically and politically. It deadens creativity and it assaults imagination. The importance of imagination is that we can take ourselves beyond where we are, beyond our own narrow perspectives, to imagine other peoples, other worlds, other experiences. Without the ability to do that, both artistic creativity and progressive politics shrivel."
When did he say that, though? He said don't have creators and then try to make them tell their story in a 'white' way. Different cultures have different common story structures and cultural references and attitudes and so on, so the people working on telling the story need to be open to that and not just go 'okay, but this is how you're supposed to do it' according to the default rules which were pretty much developed by white people.
@@TrappedinSLC I don't think that is exactly what he said. But let's say that is what he meant. The concept of whiteness can be rather arbitrary concept. And saying that these "rules" are fallacious because they were developed by white people is reductive identity politics that I'm talking. These rules shouldn't be solely judged on the skin color of the people who developed them. These rules of cultural expression should base on how accurately it reflects the culture not how "white" or "non-white" it is.
@@realityshifter3399 The problem is that the people *making* media (or at least the people funding the media) are typically not actually representative of *modern* culture. Even if we accept the premise that modern culture is far more inclusive of other influences beyond mostly white European content (which is not a premise without argument but we'll go with it), the people who usually represent that modern culture are younger than the people who are in the positions of power to do funding and show running and those sorts of things. So it's primarily those people that he was speaking to in some ways, I think. They're certainly the ones deciding who the show runner for a show would be, for example, and who the writing staff are, and so on. And they very much do still have an approach to things that is heavily rooted in what is basically whiteness, since that white European cultural approach was dominant in the US for such a long time. The funding people especially also tend to be fairly conservative financially, so they *like* things that repeat the stuff they're used to, because they think they know it's what will make them money. Anything that deviates from that structure scares them because they can't predict it as well financially. That's part of why so much stuff does seem very formulaic - it is, because that's what people are comfortable paying for. Lots of these people aren't really creatives looking to make Art, they're business people looking to make money. The one benefit to having so many platforms for producing things these days is that some of the money people are basically being forced to get outside their comfort zone a bit because studios and platforms with smaller wallets simply can't compete with the big guns for properties, so there's had to be some branching out. Mostly what I think Taika is saying with that is if you hire someone to make a Polynesian movie because you think it'll be different than other offerings, let them make a freaking Polynesian movie. Don't try to force them to make it more familiar to YOU. You (the money person) are not the only audience out there and there's plenty of people who will be perfectly happy to pay to watch an actually Polynesian movie rather than a Polynesian story shoehorned into a standard Hollywood structure.
It’s awesome to be Brown and Rich hahaha Nga mihi uncle!! Got $20 bucks?
This guy isn't writing !? AI can't replicate his writing for sure, he represents everything wrong with this industry.
At the time there was a writer’s strike going on
Taika for president.
@TheCommentsSection
What's taking so long? I don't know, what about letting your overlords know to stop casting stereotypical roles with non white people?
Didn't you listen to what he said?
@@itcouldbelupus2842 The question asked gives you the answer. (and not your question)
@@LordLOC No it doesn't, this person obviously has no idea how the studio system works. He literally said they have spent years trying to explain to the overlords what to do and what not to do, and they are not listening. So this person obviously is responding to the title and didn't watch the video because he answers their stupid question in the first five minutes. They have let the studio executives know to stop casting stereotypical roles, they have been doing that for decades. This idiot is not suggesting something no one has ever tried, the entire video is talking about how that doesn't work and isn't enough.
Wdym decolonialize the screen? Hollywood is an american industry. It's huge, but it's american. Every culture can platform their own cinema and their own culture for themselves, but no one has any obligation to represent anything outside their culture. Its as if we were very into bollywood, and it was super prominent everywhere and we were like "the screen is too indian, i dont see myself represented there"
so who qualifies as american to you?
"American" means "monoculture" in the way you are using it. The real America is polycultural. To decolonize anything is to recognize there are stories beneath the monoculture view that are underrepresented. This is not a radical idea.
@@scottreast He probably thinks America used to be a whites only country, unaware of its true history. America is and always have been a multicultural nation with different ethnicities and people of color.
@@scottreast I should probably clarify that i understand that America as a whole was colonized by europeans. If we were to "Decolonize the screen" that would only mean we would need to only bring back indigenous people's voices. I don't agree with that either, there's no justice to be cast for people who didn't live in that era. I think movies should properly represent the culture where they're coming from (which is a mixture of many many cultures and it's ever evolving). I wouldn't call that "decolonization" but rather, properly representing the evolution of a country or culture.
@@TheCreativeAnimation Taika Waititi has made Thor, Jojo Rabbit, Hunt for the WIlderpeople, Reservation Dogs. Not too many non-white directors have been able to make it in Hollywood but he has. He must have faced some opposition as he was trying to make it. And he's saying representation matters. The United States White alone non-Hispanic population is 57.8%. But represention of non White people is way lower and has only started to change in the last ten years, and especially now, with shows like Beef, Atlanta, and movies like Black Panther. By decolonize the screen he is saying please let non White people also be part of shows and movies. Before Reservation Dogs, when was the last time somone made a show about Native American people in this country? Re Bollywood: I have a perspective since I'm originally from India. India has a caste system with the lowest caste of people who are now known as Dalits. They've been discriminated against for centuries with people not allowing their shadow to come into contact with their own shadow. So what decolonize the screen would mean in India would be to have more Dalit representation in films. There's a new movie on Netflix where the main character is Dalit. And it's groundbreaking So while Bollywood can't have the kind so represenation the US should and can have--i.e. different races, it can have it's own version of inclusivity.
Bros been hitting the pipe before walking in here. 😮
he is known to be a huge coke head in the la scene
I wish he was able to do the speech sober
When you’re speaking gibberish , alcohol certainly helps
Nah that’s how New Zealand people talk
Very funny 🤡🤡🤡
Is he on something or does he always behave like this? I can see why he fits in with the hollyweird scene!
Hi mum
Hence his call for different people on the screen. So the world becomes used to naturally different behaviors and forms of thinking/speech and……doesn’t assume they’re on something while they’re at it.
Dude might not have seen other Polynesians on screen growing up but at least he didn’t see and hear everyone in the world constantly getting applauded for openly hating and oppressing Polynesians
You sure ?
Guy needs a brown hood
Overatered, bring back What we do in the shadows waititi
Apparently bullying is cool as long as you’re not the one being bullied
The problem is that when film and tv become a platform for you to preach and push your beliefs onto others instead of to entertain us, it will drive us away. Stop pandering and start working again.
Who are you addressing this comment to?
@@itcouldbelupus2842 Taika and Hollywood. Who else?
@@MatchesPeaches you know taika and Hollywood are two separate groups right? Or do you not understand who actually makes decisions in Hollywood? What beliefs does Taika preach or push onto others in his films?
@@MatchesPeaches I think films and tv have always been media that inherently carry messages. Films and TV shows can be entertaining because they present different perspectives. That's one of the reasons why I enjoy Taika's films. I'm curious to know what kind of beliefs and messages in his films make you feel so uncomfortable.
they're on strike genius
Lol so fighting racism with racism. Got it. Another "woke" moment brought to you racists
Its apparently ok that a Polyniesian man to make a movie about Norse gods.
Norse people havent been colonised or oppressed.
@@alexisgrey3633Clearly you dont know history
Best way to end racism…more racism 🤯
What? He’s pretending jewish people aren’t “represented and included” in hollywood ?
What did he say that made you think he's pretending Jewish people are not represented in Hollywood? Or are you just dog-whistling?
@@itcouldbelupus2842 he said he wanted to see his people represented and included……
@@gigglemaniarunninwild2207 I'm gonna say Polynesians🤷
@@cjstryder5441 he IS jewish, so isn’t he being hypocritical here? I mean who is behind the lack of representation all these years, who were all those people responsible for that? All those studio heads, producers, directors, executives were majority what group? Hmmm …….
@@gigglemaniarunninwild2207 Not to mention the fact that he has mostly white ancestry. The guys a first class grifter no matter which way you slice it
The man who killed Thor
So you've only seen one Thor movie😂
Cry baby.
Replace “white” with anything else
And it won't work because nobody else runs Hollywood.
Yay racism is cool again!!!
No white person has ever said this abt minorities unless they were wearing white hoods so
Please don't Direct Thor 5
Yeah this famous multimillionaire speaking to millions of people is so oppressed bc he lived next to Australia for a little while
As a Māori, your comments absolutely no sense. What is the point you are trying to make? Millions? Oppression? Or us being from a country next to Australia?
@@maherarawhiti3845 I don’t know what your question is but I was saying this rich, famous, able bodied, straight male living in 2023 standing at a podium speaking to millions of people is complaining about how oppressed he is. Then he blames his oppression solely on white people, as if his previous statements weren’t delusional enough.
@@drooster1219 He has never said he's straight just cos he's with a woman doesnt mean he's straight bisexuality is a thing.
@@alexisgrey3633 so insightful you just solved every problem 👏🏻 way to go genius
@@drooster1219I mean Māori people should get a voice in the industry. You can’t complain about his complaining then support industry figures who are against diversity in screen writing (which is a lot btw). What he is saying is perfect if you want an industry that allows indigenous voices to be told and hence the voices of oppressed minorities. How is his criticism not valid for the creation of a better society?
This creature must love young boys...
what..? thats a random thing to say. maybe you’re projecting
No one finds it interesting that he played hitler?
hes jewish and it was a parody hitler
Wow, Schlock and Thunder was so bad, this mfr aged like twenty years because of it. He now looks like my soon-to-be-60 dad.
This guy acts like hes not more than 50 percent white. His mother is white and his dad, being maori, will be part white too. He is more colonizer than colonized.
The percentage of non-whiteness tends not to be a consideration for those mistreating, pre-judging, excluding etc… one is either in the circle or outside it, typically.
@@StaminaMC He said 'you broke it, you fix it' meaning he expects the white people of today to make up for the mistreatment and exclusion by past generations. Since you agree with him that the son should pay for the sins of the father then why shouldnt he be held accountable for his white ancestors?
@@alicegw3913 No, thats exactly what he said. He said you broke it you fix it.
@@alicegw3913 No, the opportunities are there. In fact the industry is discriminating in favor of non whites now in order to get more diversity. So its not about opportunity. The fact that non whites arent taking those opportunities in quantities that would sufficiently satisfy him points to other problems. Taikas saying that its because white people 'burned the house down' And now he says we have to rebuild it. The guys a race grifter. Hes exploiting race for his own ends.
@@alicegw3913 This constant obsession with race benefits him in many ways no doubt and i dont which one motivates him. Maybe its the righteous high people get from victimhood or the attention or someting
Yawn. He knows this is the type of soundbite that's easy to grab attention and "stay relevant." It's his own careerist rhetoric.
Some people applauded hitler back in the day
In this case, the woke are the gestapo
You ever seen Jojo Rabbit?
@@maherarawhiti3845no but i know what it is. What does that have to do with my statement?^
@@seventhcompactor1505how do y'all take yourselves serious
He said nothin but still said much... is cringe still a thing
The problem is that when film and tv become a platform for you to preach and push your beliefs onto others instead of to entertain us, it will drive us away. Stop pandering and start working again.
Give me an example
@@sendthemessage7720 you serious? Pretty much any Disney movie in the last 3 years should give you plenty of examples. And that’s JUST Disney.
@@MatchesPeaches I'm trying to think of a recent disney movie that does that but none really come to mind
@@MatchesPeaches Oh please all they do is add diversity in their movies it doesn’t affect the story. For example Turning Red has a Asian lead but it doesn’t focus on her being Asian it focus on her controlling her Panda
@@shawncarter5434 Turning Red is not the diversity politics people are talking about, btw. That movie has its own problems, but is pretty much what diversity and inclusion should be in Hollywood. Original characters and stories that happen to reflect and show what maybe that character’s ethnic background goes through today. But Hollywood instead decides to take old characters and swap their race or gender while pushing their political message to us in very unsubtle ways.