Oscar recipients generally talk about their craft and inspirations during backstage interviews, but Taika Waititi chose to bash Apple instead after winning an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay (Jojo Rabbit). When asked about the needs of writers last night, the Thor: Ragnarok director went on a comedic rant about the tech giant and how it needs to “fix those keyboards.”
“They are impossible to write on. They have gotten worse, makes me want to go back to PCs, because PC keyboards, the bounce-back for your fingers is way better. And hands up, who still uses a PC? You know what I’m talking about; it’s a way better keyboard, and those Apple keyboards are horrendous. And especially as the computers…as the laptops get newer and newer, here’s the latest, the latest one, the latest new iMac, the keyboards are worse,” he said.
Taika Waititi jokes about what writers should be asking for in the next round of talks with producers: “Apple needs to fix those keyboards. They are impossible to write on. They’ve gotten worse. It makes me want to go back to PCs” #Oscars pic.twitter.com/vlFTSjCfZm
— Variety (@Variety) February 10, 2020
It isn’t clear whether Waititi was referencing the controversy surrounding Apple’s butterfly keyboards, but his comments are pretty amusing, nonetheless. These have been criticized for getting stuck and gummed up due to the design of the butterfly mechanism, which allows for crumbs and dust to slip under the keys.
Waititi ended his rant by scrunching his arms and hands together, alluding to a cramped and uncomfortable typing experience on modern-day MacBooks. They’re bad enough to cause shoulder pain, evidently.
“…I’ve got very….I’ve got some shoulder problems, I’ve got, like, a sort of loose…I don’t know what you call it over here, this thing here, which is that tendon that goes from, like, the forearm down into the thumb. You know what I’m talking about; you guys who are writing. And what happens is you open the laptop, and you’re like this. So the laptop…you just got to fix those keyboards.”
The Oscar-winning director/screenwriter is clearly joking at this point, but for those who got stuck with Apple’s faulty MacBook butterfly keyboard, things may not be so funny.
“WGA needs to step in and actually do something. Next.”