Race Relations Commissioner Dame Susan Devoy has applauded Taika Waititi's comments on New Zealand being a racist country, calling it "really brave leadership".
Waititi made the comments in an interview for the British style and culture magazine Dazed and Confused alongside Kiwi singer for the band Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Ruban Nielson - who agreed with Waititi's assessment.
"It's racist as f***. I think New Zealand is the best place on the planet, but it's a racist place," Waititi said.
"People just flat-out refuse to pronounce Māori names properly ... there's still profiling when it comes to Polynesians."
Mr Waititi went on to describe a number of racial profiling incidents he had experienced first-hand.
Speaking this morning to TVNZ 1's Breakfast, Dame Susan said she agreed with Mr Waititi and praised him for speaking out.
Last week Waititi spoke to Marae about how he viewed the state of the country.
"When someone like Taika Waititi comes out and speaks the truth and talks from experience, we as New Zealanders need to sit up and listen," she said.
"Good on Taika for having the courage to speak up ... we need to actually understand that racism is an issue in New Zealand - and what are we going to do about it?"
Dame Susan says she doesn't think his comments would have made New Zealand look bad internationally.
"I've seen criticism of him speaking out against things that aren't favourable in New Zealand - I think he's walking the talk - he's showing humanity in action and highlighting an issue that he's personally experienced and asking New Zealand to do better.
"He's just telling it like it is."
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told Breakfast Mr Waititi had "pointed out that we have the same problem that most countries have".
"Most countries battle with issues like racism - New Zealand does too," Ms Ardern said.
"What I'm proud of is that we're open about it - we talk about it, we talk about how we can improve it and I think that's really healthy.
"But there's no denying we have issues."
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