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 In his first remarks on the growing controversy, the
Oscar-winning director told the Los Angeles Times that he was
not a "cop hater" and that his words had been misrepresented.
"I'm not being intimidated," Tarantino told the newspaper.
"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."
The National Association of Police Organizations (NAPO) last
week joined calls by police unions in Los Angeles, New York and
Philadelphia for a boycott of Tarantino's films, including his
December release "The Hateful Eight."
The NAPO also asked officers to stop providing security, traffic
control or technical advice for any of the film maker's projects
after Tarantino's remarks at a New York rally against the
killings by police of black civilians.
"When I see murder, I cannot stand by, and I have to call the
murdered the murdered, and I have to call the murderers the
murderers," Tarantino was quoted as telling protesters from the
podium at the rally last month.
"All cops are not murderers," Tarantino told the Los Angeles
Times on Tuesday. "I never said that. I never even implied
that."
"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."
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Public outrage over the deaths of black men at the hands of police
in New York, Missouri, Baltimore, South Carolina and elsewhere has
spurred protests and prosecutions of police nationwide for more than
a year.
But Tarantino's remarks and presence at the October rally, held days
after a New York police officer was shot dead while chasing a
bicycle thief, have made headline news.
Tarantino's violent, anti-slavery movie "Django Unchained" won an
Oscar two years ago. "The Hateful Eight," about bounty hunters in
post-Civil War Wyoming, opens in U.S. movie theaters on Dec. 25 and
is seen as a contender for this year's Academy Awards.
The calls for a boycott are not expected to have a significant
impact on the box office for his films, which are admired in
Hollywood but not always big commercial draws.
(Reporting By Jill Serjeant; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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