Quentin Tarantino and The Weinstein Co. have both issued statements on the director's comments calling police "murderers" at a rally to protest police brutality in New York City last month. The production company, co-founded by Harvey Weinstein, is behind Tarantino's upcoming film, "The Hateful Eight."
"The Weinstein Co. has a longstanding relationship and friendship with Quentin and has a tremendous amount of respect for him as a filmmaker," a Weinstein Co. spokesperson said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. "We don't speak for Quentin, he can and should be allowed to speak for himself."
The two-time Oscar winner spoke at the "Rise Up October to Stop to Police Terror" rally to address police brutality nearly two weeks ago. He told the crowd that "this is not being dealt with in any way at all. That's why we are out here. If it was being dealt with, then these murdering cops would be in jail or at least be facing charges."
He continued, "When I see a murder, I do not stand by... I have to call a murder a murder, and I have to call the murderers the murderers."
Tarantino issued his own statement about his remarks, only moments after The Weinstein Co. broke its silence, and tried to clarify the meaning behind his words.
"All cops are not murderers," Tarantino told The Los Angeles Times. "I never said that. I never even implied that."
He went on, "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."
Tarantino did not mention his father, Tony Tarantino, who condemned his son's remarks last week. Tony issued his own statement through the Patrolman's Benevolent Association of the City of New York, saying his son was "dead wrong in calling police officers... murderers."
Quentin's remarks have caused major police unions across the country, including in New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago and Houston, to announce that they are boycotting the director. The national president of the Fraternal Order of Police, the world's largest organization of sworn law enforcement officers, also issued a letter to the Weinstein brothers, saying the FOP's 330,000 members would join the boycott of "The Hateful Eight," according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Still, Tarantino will not back down from his position.
"I'm not being intimidated," he told the LA Times. "Frankly, it feels lousy to have a bunch of police mouthpieces call me a cop hater. I'm not a cop hater. That is a misrepresentation. That is slanderous. That is not how I feel."
He concluded, "But you know, that's their choice to do that to me. What can I do? I'm not taking back what I said was the truth. I'm used to people misrepresenting me; I'm used to being misunderstood. What I'd like to think their attack against me is so vicious that they're revealing themselves. They're hiding in plain sight."
