Quentin Tarantino Won’t Be Intimidated By Police Boycott Of ‘The Hateful Eight’, Says Cops Are Trying To ‘Demonize’ Him
Director Quentin Tarantino has finally spoken publicly about the NYPD’s call to boycott his new film The Hateful Eight— set to be released on Christmas — after Tarantino allegedly called police murderers at an anti-police brutality protest in New York City on October 24.
The quote by Quentin Tarantino at the anti-police brutality protest that set off the NYPD didn’t actually call all cops murderers, Tarantino told the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday. Instead, Tarantino says, police are demonizing him through misrepresentation, in order to intimidate him and others who would potentially speak out against police brutality.
“What they’re doing is pretty obvious. Instead of dealing with the incidents of police brutality that those people were bringing up, instead of examining the problem of police brutality in this country, better they single me out. And their message is very clear. It’s to shut me down. It’s to discredit me. It is to intimidate me. It is to shut my mouth, and even more important than that, it is to send a message out to any other prominent person that might feel the need to join that side of the argument.”
Since Tarantino’s initial remarks at the October 24 rally, police unions nationwide — including unions in New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Orange County — are calling for a boycott on Tarantino’s newest film The Hateful Eight, when it is released in theaters this Christmas. The National Association of Police Organizations and the National Border Patrol Council have also recently voiced their support for the boycott of Tarantino’s forthcoming film.
Todd Boyd, a professor of critical studies at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, on the other hand, believes that the controversy now surrounding Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight will actually boost ticket sales rather than hinder them.
“Tarantino has always been the kind of figure who has attracted contrarians. So there aren’t too many things that could be better for this film than for law enforcement to boycott it.”
“I’m a human being with a conscience,” Tarantino said at the rally nearly two weeks ago, “[a]nd when I see a murder I cannot stand by. And I have to call the murdered the murdered and I have to call the murderers the murderers.” The misrepresentation, Tarantino says, comes from the idea that his detractors are falsely stating he called all cops murderers. Quentin says he never even implied such a thing.
NYC Police Union Calls for Boycott of Quentin Tarantino https://t.co/U8T1WsM3sC pic.twitter.com/B7st1kTEb6
— dailymusicnews (@musicnews_daily) October 26, 2015
For his part, Quentin Tarantino is not backing down nor will he be intimidated, calling those standing against him “police mouthpieces” and stating that their claims that he is a cop hater is not only a misrepresentation but also a slander.
“But you know, that’s their choice to do that to me. What can I do? I’m not taking back what I said. What I said was the truth. I’m used to people misrepresenting me; I’m used to being misunderstood.”
Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight tells the story of bounty hunters caught in a blizzard in post-Civil War Wyoming, who, while attempting to find shelter, instead find themselves in a plot filled with deception and betrayal. The movie hits theaters December 25.
Will you be seeing Quentin Tarantino’s newest film, or will you be boycotting it along with police unions nationwide? Sound off below.
[Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images]
