Taika Waititi responds to being labelled 'treasonous' by Duncan Garner

Thursday, 19 October 2017

Taika Waititi labelled 'treasonous' for saying he isn't proud of New Zealand.

Filmmaker Taika Waititi has responded to being labelled 'treasonous' by The AM Show host Duncan Garner.

The Thor: Ragnarok director took to Twitter this evening to 'apologise' for comments he made in an interview with Marae regarding New Zealand's waterways, suicide rates and child poverty, among other things.

'I'm sorry NZ!' he tweeted. 'I wasn't thinking and spoke in haste. I forgot to mention domestic violence, sexism, homophobia, and racism. My bad!'

Taika Waititi has thrown some shade back Duncan Garner's way.

I'm sorry NZ! I wasn't thinking and spoke in haste. I forgot to mention domestic violence, sexism, homophobia, and racism. My bad! @maraetv

In typical lighthearted fashion, the Thor: Ragnarok director 'apologised' to New Zealand for his comments.

— Taika Waititi (@TaikaWaititi) October 19, 2017

* Duncan Garner sets limits on Taika Waititi's free speech, but only if the neighbours might hear

* Taika Waititi ashamed of New Zealand's green image**

Waititi later followed that up with several more tweets, including one poking fun at the fact that while he also criticised New Zealand's high rates of teen suicide, depression, child poverty and abuse, it was his description of our waterways as 'poisoned' that seemed to have drawn the most ire from Garner.

Me: NZ has highest teen suicide rates, depression, child poverty/abuse, & our waterways are poisoned.

NZ: Don't hassle our water, traitor!

— Taika Waititi (@TaikaWaititi) October 19, 2017

In the Marae interview, Waititi had said that he was 'not very proud of coming from a place that everyone overseas thinks is this beautiful clean, green country, whereas in reality all our lakes and waterways are poisoned'.

'We've got a lot to learn about looking after the environment and we've got a lot to learn about our depression rates and our suicide rates and our teen suicide rates, child poverty numbers and the housing crisis.'

In response, Garner labelled Waititi's comments 'treasonous'.

'He was New Zealander of the year, this year 2017, so he's an ambassador for New Zealand now,' said Garner on The AM Show this morning. 'You cannot be this treasonous about your own country. You cannot say you're not proud to be a New Zealander if you're the New Zealander of the year.'

'I've got a problem with it, because you have to be accurate as New Zealander of the Year, and I reckon he's thrown New Zealand under the bus,' the former political editor concluded.

Garner came under fire himself last week for a controversial opinion piece that was accused of being racist.

In the piece, Garner argued that New Zealand had failed to properly plan for our increasing population. He criticised the government for not installing a Minister of Population and Planning. His article was set in K-Mart, where he noted a lot of people from Asia were lined up in a snake-like queue.

Earlier, Garner wrote about dirty waterways himself. 'National is also ambivalent on climate change, dirty rivers and our waterways. Action is needed now, not another kick for touch,' he said ahead of the election.

In a cutting criticism of National's nine years in office, Garner said New Zealand was close to falling apart. 'Yes, the headline numbers around the economy look good. And they are. But the family tree underneath is stressed and in some instances broken.'

Confronted, Garner stuck by his statement. Media personality Colin Mathura-Jeffree contacted The AM Show to say he supported Waititi for speaking out when so few celebrities would. 'Taika should speak truly, he loves New Zealand, and he should speak out freely,' he wrote.

The New Zealander of the Year is an award, put on by corporate sponsors, for which the public votes to 'celebrate those people who use their passion for New Zealand to make our country a better place'.

Waititi has been a vocal advocate for indigenous peoples here and in Australia, where he made a point of hiring local indigenous crew for Thor: Ragnarok.

Back home, he was a spokesman for the Human Rights Commission's 2017 'Racism needs your help' anti-racism campaign. He also campaigned for The Greens in the 2017 election.