Taika Waititi blasted for resurfaced transphobic tweets

Director Taika Waititi, who endeared himself to LGBT audiences with his handling of recent Marvel films, is under attack for old transphobic tweets.

Waititi recently played gay characters in Thor: Love and Thunder and the queer HBO pirate show Our Flag Means Death – both projects he directed.

He has positioned himself as an LGBT ally, reports LGBT news site Pink News, saying in a recent interview with Out magazine that “We’re all queer.”

But a series of resurfaced tweets has landed him in hot water.

“No disrespect to men who want to be/dress as women. I should have just said their makeup looks manly. Also no disrespect to meth users,” tweeted Waititi on July 16, 2013.

The “meth user” remark was a reference to an earlier rant where he criticizes beauty pageant contestants, where he said: “Combining heels and bikini whilst plastering your face in orange so you resemble a leather pudding is totes empowering.”

Twitter user @carocreature called him out, writing: “Slut-shaming, transphobia, and immense misogyny all in one tweet.  But dude, not cool.”

Taika replied: “No it is cool.”

@carocreature wrote: “No, Taika, it’s not cool. You need to apologise. My trans* friends who struggle with suicide daily due to similar comments hardly think so.” 

Taika quipped back: “My trans friends can walk in heels. but you’re right, actual kathoey are better looking,” using a term for Thai ladyboys.

One Twitter user defended Waititi by arguing the celebrity director was complaining about heavy makeup, not transgenders.

Another Waititi tweet from April 2015 deadnamed Caitlyn Jenner just days after she came out as a trans woman, reading: “We’ll all be wearing #JeSuisBruceJenner badges by Monday.”

“Deadnaming” is the practice of using the former name of a of a transgender person.

Waititi has not publicly responded to the criticism, reports Pink News. He reportedly married singer Rita Ora last week.