Thor Director Taika Waititi Pokes Fun at Joker Director’s Woke Comments

This weekend will see the release of Joker which is one of this year’s most anticipated films. After receiving praise from critics the world over, the Joaquin Phoenix movie seems all but untouchable as it mows towards success. Still, a succession of strange reports have put Joker under scrutiny, and the latest headlines all have to do with its director. Not long ago, Todd Phillips inflamed social media after an interview of his went live, and it has drawn reacts from some beloved filmmakers.

For those unaware of the situation, Phillips did an interview with Vanity Fair in anticipation for the release of Joker. It was there the director, who also helmed The Hangover trilogy, shared his critical view of ‘woke’ culture and its effect on comedy. The polarizing comments set off a fan-war on social media, and the director of Thor: Ragnarok has shared his own reaction to Phillips.

And as you can probably imagine, Taika Waititi handled the controversy in his own succinct way.

Taking to Twitter, the director shared a post detailing Phillips’ comment before adding his own words. Waititi simply wrote, “Lol he funny,” in response, and fans have flocked to the post to rally behind one of the directors. While some say they see where Phillips is coming from, others stress ‘woke’ culture has always existed but without the same visibility it has today thanks to social media.

For now, it seems like Joker has yet to be harmed by this ‘woke’ controversy as fans pick where they land on the debate. If you have yet to choose a side, then you can read up on Phillips’ full comment below:

“Go try to be funny nowadays with this woke culture,” Phillips said. “There were articles written about why comedies don’t work anymore—I’ll tell you why, because all the f*cking funny guys are like, ‘F*ck this sh*t, because I don’t want to offend you.’ It’s hard to argue with 30 million people on Twitter. You just can’t do it, right? So you just go, ‘I’m out.’ I’m out, and you know what? With all my comedies—I think that what comedies in general all have in common—is they’re irreverent. So I go, ‘How do I do something irreverent, but f*ck comedy? Oh I know, let’s take the comic book movie universe and turn it on its head with this.’ And so that’s really where that came from.”

What do you make of Phillips’ comments about ‘woke’ culture? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!

Upcoming DC movies include Joker on October 4th, Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) on February 7, 2020, Wonder Woman 1984 on June 5, 2020, The Batman on June 25, 2021, The Suicide Squad on August 6, 2021, and Aquaman 2 on December 16, 2022.