Oscar-winner Leonardo DiCaprio has been slated online for seemingly ignoring a traditional Fijian welcome. Photo / Getty Images
Oscar-winner Leonardo DiCaprio has been slated online for seemingly ignoring a traditional Fijian welcome. Photo / Getty Images
Leonardo DiCaprio had a very awkward reaction to receiving a traditional Fiji welcome, which many have dubbed “disrespectful”.
Leonardo DiCaprio’s painfully awkward reaction to a traditional Fiji reception has been caught on camera.
The Oscar-winning actor, 50, was spotted leaving a hotel in Nadi on Fiji’s main island this week and was sent off with a cheerful farewell serenade performed by the staff.
In a video posted to TikTok, the Wolf of Wall Street actor, clad in black clothes and a pair of sunglasses, seemingly took a phone call upon realising there was a large crowd in the hotel foyer, before dipping his cap and putting his head down.
DiCaprio didn’t appear to acknowledge any of the people singing to him, prompting commenters online to label the apparent snub “disrespectful”.
Aside from the staff, who generally serenade all guests with a cultural tribute, there were also dozens of tourists in the foyer standing around filming DiCaprio as he made his exit into the back seat of a black car.
“SHOULD’VE ACKNOWLEDGED THE FIJI WELCOMING PARTY,” one person wrote in the comments section.
“He totally ignored the welcoming effort,” another said.
A fourth said, “Don’t waste your energy my Fiji whānau (family), he’s so disrespectful”.
Another accused DiCaprio of taking a “fake call to ignore them”.
DiCaprio was being filmed by several guests.
Others, however, defended DiCaprio, pointing out how several guests were filming him as he attempted to make a low-key departure.
“The staff need to use their common sense and realise A-list celebrities hate attention like this in public,” one said.
“Well at least they know not to do it again and respect his privacy,” another added.
“He came for a private vacation,” a third pointed out.
It’s not known why DiCaprio is in Fiji, though he has partnered with the South Pacific country in the past via his conservation organisation, the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation (LDF).
In 2017, LDF provided a grant to provide renewable energy to rural communities.
DiCaprio has long been a climate change activist, sensationally urging for action during his acceptance speech after taking home a long-awaited Best Actor Oscar for The Revenant in 2016.
“Making The Revenant was about man’s relationship to the natural world. A world that we collectively felt in 2015 as the hottest year in recorded history,” DiCaprio said.
Leonardo DiCaprio as Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street. Photo / Mary Cybulski
“Our production needed to move to the southern tip of this planet just to be able to find snow. Climate change is real, it is happening right now. It is the most urgent threat facing our entire species and we need to work collectively together and stop procrastinating.
“We need to support leaders around the world who do not speak for the big polluters or the big corporations, but who speak for all of humanity for the indigenous people of the world. For the billions and billions of underprivileged people who will be most affected by this. For our children’s children. And for those people out there whose voices have been drowned out by the politics of greed.
“Let us not take this planet for granted. I do not take tonight for granted,” he concluded.
