Taika Waititi has fired up a group of angry film fans by poking fun at Joker filmmaker Todd Phillips on Twitter.
The Boy filmmaker joked that Phillips was "funny" for claiming that "woke culture" is ruining comedy.
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Waititi is perhaps most well known internationally for directing Thor: Ragnarok, which is part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) - the rival of the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), to which Joker belongs.
This rivalry between the comic book brands' fanbases means Waititi's tweet has triggered some fanboys.
"Oh you're campaigning hard, I see. You want an Oscar? Won't happen Marvel boy," tweeted Twitter user @rotovisor, racking up hundreds of likes.
"[Waititi's films are] all shit. Todd Phillips won a Golden Lion and could possibly be nominated for Best Director for Joker. Wtf has Taika done? Dude ruined the Thor character," added @DragonStone237.
Waititi's initial tweet has over 80,000 likes, 10,000 retweets and hundreds of comments.
Many are debating those attacking him, with some highlighting the accolades other MCU films have won - such as Black Panther's three Oscars.
Trans activist and author Brynn Tannehill joined in the conversation and jokingly mocked Waititi, along with Sir Peter Jackson.
"What the hell does Taika know? Thor: Ragnarok wasn't funny at all because it didn't make any 'trans people are gross traps for straight men jokes'," Tannehill tweeted.
"Freakin' Kiwis. Think they know about cinema and stuff. Who the hell is Peter Jackson anyway?"
The tweet Waititi was responding to linked to an article in which Phillips explained why he was "out" of making comedies.
"Go try to be funny nowadays with this woke culture," Phillips told Vanity Fair.
"There were articles written about why comedies don't work anymore - I'll tell you why, because all the f**king funny guys are like, 'F**k this shit, because I don’t want to offend you'. It's hard to argue with 30 million people on Twitter."
The director of 2004's Starsky & Hutch added that moving to comic book movies was, for him, a natural progression.
"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**k 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."
Despite Waititi's involvement in the MCU, he is starring in upcoming DCEU movie Suicide Squad 2.
His next film, the anti-hate satire Jojo Rabbit in which he plays Adolf Hitler, will be released in New Zealand cinemas later this month.
Newshub.
