Singer-songwriter Rita Ora has referred to the ethnicity of her husband, acclaimed New Zealand director Taika Waititi as "half a Samoan'.
The comment, which is incorrect — Waititi has labelled his heritage as Māori with on his father's side and Russian Jewish, Irish and other Pākehā groups on his mother's side — was made on the latest episode of The Voice Australia while Ora was judging the competition alongside Jason Derulo, Guy Sebastian and Jessica Mauboy.
Asked about his singing background, Marley Sola, one of the contestants said he is "part Samoan" and Ora, trying to convince him to join her team, replied that she is "married to half a Samoan man, so..."
The power couple have been married since August. Presumably Ora's mistake, first reported by Madeleine Chapman for The Spinoff, was made in the heat of the moment and it is likely she meant to say Polynesian.
Waititi has described himself in the past as a "Polynesian Jew", identifying strongly as Māori and dedicated much of his artistic work to the advancement of te reo Māori and indigenous storytelling.
Jason Derulo's own connection to Sāmoa is that he's "got some Samoan tattoos" — and "one of my security's guards is Sāmoan as well, and so we're kinda like family," he told Sola.
One possible cause for Ora's confusion is that Waititi's upcoming film, Next Goal Wins is set in American Samoa, based on a 2013 documentary of the same name about the trials and tribulations of the island territory's football team.
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