Taika Waititi's cameo on The Simpsons has come under fire for continuing the perception of him being self-indulgent.
Taika Waititi's cameo on The Simpsons has come under fire for continuing the perception of him being self-indulgent.
New Zealand movie director and actor Taiki Waititi is under fire following his cameo on The Simpsons where he played himself, with critics saying it gave the perception the Kiwi’s work is “self-indulgent and self-congratulatory”.
Waititi appears in the episode, Murder, She Boat, where Lisa must solve the “murder” of an action figure belonging to Comic Book Guy.
The Kiwi plays a cartoon character of himself who is a guest on the “nerd cruise” ship and springs into action to help her solve the crime.
Lisa, starstruck by Waititi’s offer to help, tells him she “loves everything you do” and says he is “by far” her favourite on-screen Hitler, a reference to his movie Jojo Rabbit.
Waititi’s fictional character, who has a Kiwi accent, agrees to assist Lisa, responding: “Of course. Why? Because I have a medical condition where I have to be multi-tasking at all times”.
Taika Waititi's cameo on The Simpsons has come under fire for continuing the perception of him being self-indulgent.
Lisa then explains her brother Bart, who is a prime suspect, can’t be the only person who hates Comic Book Guy, so they would need to start looking at other passengers.
Waititi says: “Why don’t we start with fans of the Taika-verse? Whoops, that’s everyone”, before breaking into laughter.
He later discusses his “huge pile of money” and says a movie looked so good that he couldn’t believe he didn’t direct it.
His cameo appearance drew strong criticism from US website Screen Rant, which not only said he came across as “self-indulgent, smug, and self-congratulatory”, but went on to say it “ended up feeling like a cringeworthy misstep” and suggested Waititi’s reputation with the public was falling.
“Lisa pairing up with Waititi to solve the crime was what facilitated most of the unfortunate gags about how wonderful he is and how successful he considers himself,” it wrote.
“It didn’t help that Lisa pandered to Waititi.”
Despite the backlash, Waititi was praised online by fans of The Simpsons and the director, with some saying they enjoyed the episode and guest appearance.
“A great episode for The Simpsons 34th Birthday/Anniversary! I enjoyed it very much! Looking forward to next week!” one wrote.
“I love Taika. That was a fun episode,” another said.
Taika Waititi and Rita Ora enjoy luxury New Zealand escape
His latest film, Next Goal Wins, has a poor critic score of 43 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes from 125 reviews.
However, the film has netted an 83 per cent approval from audiences, based on more than 100 verified reviews.
Taking to Instagram yesterday, Ora shared snaps from their trip to Aotearoa showing the pair spending time at Piwakawaka Point Estate — an exclusive, luxury villa on a private peninsula on Lake Wānaka.
Featuring snaps of the For You singer in a pool, taking a walk around the estate’s private trails and taking a dip in Lake Wānaka, the star captioned her post: “I can’t begin to explain the weekend I have had. Thank you for these memories Piwakawaka Point.”
A source told the Herald the couple were also spotted shopping in nearby Central Otago tourist destination Arrowtown.
Waititi and Ora are yet to reveal why they are back in the country, however, it could be for a holiday and to spend time with the director’s two daughters.
