Quentin Tarantino said he's "not being intimidated" by police boycotts after he called them "murderers" at a rally in New York, and said his comments are being misrepresented.
"All cops are not murderers. I never said that. I never even implied that," Tarantino
told the Los Angeles Times in an interview published Tuesday.
"I do believe that the cops who killed Eric Garner are murderers. I do believe that when Walter Scott was shot in the back in the park eight times by a cop, he was murdered. I do believe Tamir Rice was murdered."
Tarantino said he was invited to attend the Oct. 24 protest march of Rise Up October — a group affiliated with Black Lives Matter — and was "happy to do so." He said one highlight of attending was meeting the family members of citizens killed by police officers.
At the march, he told fellow protesters, "When I see murders, I do not stand by. I have to call a murder a murder and I have to call the murderers the murderers."
A New York police union said that Tarantino's comments incited violence against police, and called for a boycott of his upcoming film, "The Hateful Eight," as well as his older movies, like "Pulp Fiction." Los Angeles and Philadelphia police unions joined the boycott, and NYPD Commissioner William Bratton voiced his support for officers all over the country.
"Shame on him, particularly at this time when we are grieving the murder of New York City police officer [Randolph Holder]," said Bratton. "There are no words to describe the contempt I have for him."
In his recent interview, Tarantino pushed back.
"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 said.
"I did not say anything that is making a cop more of a target than he was before Saturday. I am not saying anything that is putting cops' lives in danger."
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.