THOR DIRECTOR ACCUSES NEW ZEALAND OF BEING RACIST

Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi has described New Zealand as "a racist place" but insisted his homeland is still "the best place on the planet."

Mr Waititi made the claim in an interview with New Zealand-born musician Ruban Nielson for the Dazed and Confused magazine.

In a wide-ranging interview, both men discussed fame, their works, politics, cultural heritage and their personal experiences of racism.

Mr Waititi is the son of a Maori father of Te-Whanau-a-Apanui descent and a Jewish-European mother.

He described the type of racism he faced in New Zealand: "People just flat-out refuse to pronounce Maori names properly. There's still profiling when it comes to Polynesians.

It's not even a colour thing - like, 'Oh, there's a black person.' It's, 'If you're Poly then you're getting profiled.'"

Mr Waititi's comments caused a stir in his native homeland. Many people praised him for calling out racism and shared their own experiences.