Taika Waititi made a controversial quip while presenting at the Critics Choice Awards in Los Angeles, warning Americans to stay away from NZ.

The Thor director took the stand to announce the Best Director award, and while reading through the nominees he noted that there was a considerable amount of international talent up for the accolade.

“And also my very own home country, a place that you all want to move to, but we don’t want you, New Zealand!” he joked noting that fellow New Zealander Jane Campion was one of the nominees.

Waititi added: “I keep hearing this, ‘Oh can’t wait to move to New Zealand!’ We don’t want you. We saw what you did to this place. Nah. You made that bed…”

Waititi then went on to announce that Jane Campion won the best director award for The Power of the Dog.

Netflix mega-hit Squid Game was up for multiple nominations at the awards, including Best Drama Series, Best Actor in a Drama Series and Foreign Language series. The dystopian tv show took out the latter two awards with Lee Jung-jae taking home the best actor gong.

In an interesting crossover, Waititi was pictured later in the night posing for a pic with the Squid Game crew.

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While Waititi is well known for directing Thor: Ragnarok and JoJo Rabbit, he has recently wrapped work on Thor: Love and Thunder which is scheduled for release on July 8th, 2022.

Chris Hemsworth, who plays Thor in the Thor franchise, celebrated the wrap of the movie by posting a photo of himself posing with Waititi.

“That’s a wrap on Thor Love and Thunder, it’s also national don’t flex day so I thought this super relaxed photo was appropriate. The film is gonna be batshit crazy off the wall funny and might also pull a heart string or two. Lots of love, lots of thunder! Thank you to all the cast and crew who made this another incredible Marvel journey. Buckle in, get ready and see ya in cinemas!!,” he captioned the photo.

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