Quentin Tarantino Backlash Continues Among Police Groups
By CHRISTINE HAUSEROCT. 29, 2015
Philadelphia and Los Angeles police groups have said they will join New York City officers in a call to boycott the work of the film director Quentin Tarantino after remarks he made last weekend at a protest against police brutality.
Mr. Tarantino, an Academy Award-winning filmmaker known for a bloody crime oeuvre that includes “Reservoir Dogs,” “Pulp Fiction” and the “Kill Bill” movies, joined demonstrators in New York City on Saturday in a protest organized by RiseUpOctober. The rally called for justice for people killed by the police in shootings across the United States. In a statement on Thursday, RiseUpOctober criticized the backlash against Mr. Tarantino.
“I’m a human being with a conscience,” Mr. Tarantino, who flew in from California for the rally, was quoted by The Associated Press. “And if you believe there’s murder going on then you need to rise up and stand up against it. I’m here to say I’m on the side of the murdered.”
After Mr. Tarantino appeared at the protest, the president of the New York City Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, Patrick J. Lynch, called for a boycott of his films, saying in a statement that Mr. Tarantino was a “cop-hater” and someone who makes a living “glorifying crime and violence.”
William J. Bratton, the New York City police commissioner, also criticized Mr. Tarantino.
“Shame on him, particularly at this time when we are grieving the murder of a New York City police officer,” Mr. Bratton said on Monday during an interview with John Gambling on WNYM-AM. “There are no words to describe the contempt I have for him and his comments at this particular time.”
Back in Mr. Tarantino’s home base, the union representing Los Angeles police officers joined in the next day, supporting a boycott.
“We fully support constructive dialogue about how police interact with citizens,” said Craig Lally, president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, in a statement on Tuesday. “But there is no place for inflammatory rhetoric that makes police officers even bigger targets than we already are.”
He said Mr. Tarantino “took irresponsibility to a new and completely unacceptable level this past weekend by referring to police as murderers during an anti-police march in New York. He made this statement just four days after a New York police officer was gunned down in the line of duty.
“And questioning everything we do threatens public safety by discouraging officers from putting themselves in positions where their legitimate actions could be falsely portrayed as thuggery.”
Mr. Lally was referring to the New York police officer Randolph Holder, who was shot to death while chasing a suspect in East Harlem four days before the antipolice protest. Officer Holder’s funeral was Wednesday.
On the day of the funeral, the president of the Philadelphia police union, John McNesby, said the board of directors voted to join the boycott, saying Mr. Tarantino was “antipolice.”
“Mr. Tarantino has made a good living through his films, projecting into society at large violence and respect for criminals; he it turns out also hates cops,” he said.
The RiseUpOctober statement said these were all efforts to intimidate protesters.
“It is aimed at sending a message, not just to Tarantino, but to anyone whose voice carries great weight in society,” said Carl Dix, one of the group’s organizers. “If you speak out, we will come after you, threaten your livelihood and attempt to scare you back into silence.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/30/us/quentin-tarantino-backlash-continues-among-police-groups.html?_r=0
