Taika Waititi and Rita Ora are dating. Which has elevated Rita to the celebrity status that she may have been thirsting for for a while now. When I was texting about this with Sarah last week, though, she made an observation that isn’t getting quite as much play – it’s not like Taika has been one to run from attention. In that sense, perhaps they really are a good match.
But the conversation over the last couple of days has not just been about the two of them. After an all-night party at Taika’s this weekend, he, Rita, and Tessa Thompson were seen getting pretty tactile. The Daily Mail has the photos. And, obviously, this has been a thing all over social media with people calling it a “throuple” and all kinds of speculation over what could possibly be happening here.
Could it be a throuple? Sure. And if it is, great, whatever. Love and romance doesn’t have to look the same for everyone. Normalising this disrupts convention and we all win when we begin to dismantle rigid ideas of what relationships should be and who gets to participate.
That said…it’s not like they were alone. There was at least one other person who was with Taika, Tessa, and Rita that day and they all looked hung over and doing that after-party intimacy that can happen when you’ve all shared a beautiful, and possibly trippy, night. I’ve been there, and f-ck after this year I wish I could go back there, and it was a lot in my 20s, those wild, unforgettable nights that can bond you forever. And not necessarily sexual.
But also, they could just be clowning. It’s not like Taika Waititi doesn’t know his way around a prank. It’s not like he isn’t a great troll. And it’s not like at this point these celebrities don’t know when they’re being papped. It’s very, very possible that they’re performing here, knowing, anticipating the reaction they’ll get. And look… there’s been a reaction. And it’ll come out on the press tour for Thor: Love and Thunder. And Taika and Tessa will laugh it off like haha, we punked you.
Obviously it’s way more fun from the gossip angle to think that this might indeed be a three-way sizzle. But given who we’re dealing here, I’m not convinced. You?