Report: Quentin Tarantino Expected to Apologize to Police
His cousin, a retired police officer, is also not pleased with the director's remarks.
11.2.2015
Tiffany Gabbay
Despite being egged on by colleagues like Jamie Foxx, who urged the director to "keep telling the truth" and ignore the "haters," movie director Quentin Tarantino might be succumbing to the backlash he's received after calling police officers "murderers."
Pressure has mounted on the famous director following his appearance at a rally on October 24th in which he accused police of brutal conduct. Now, Tarantino might be planning to issue an apology for his comments.
Whether the intent is genuine or a cynical attempt to stem potentially negative financial consequences that might befall his upcoming Western-inspired epic, “The Hateful Eight,” remains unclear. Whatever the motivation, the entertainment blog, TheWrap, reported that Tarantino intends to apologize, likely via an upcoming opinion column.
After a week of silence and rising police outrage, Quentin Tarantino has let colleagues know he intends to apologize for his comments calling police officers “murderers,” TheWrap has learned. But an individual with knowledge of the situation said the director is planning to explain his comments in an opinion piece and apologize to those who were offended. The exact time and media outlet will be decided by the director, the individual said.
Meanwhile, the National Association of Police Organizations, which represents nearly 250,000 law enforcement officers, has called for a boycott of the Hateful Eight and other Tarantino films.
“New Yorkers need to send a message to this purveyor of degeneracy that he has no business coming to our city to peddle his slanderous ‘Cop Fiction.’ It’s time for a boycott of Quentin Tarantino‘s films,” Patrick Lynch, president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association said in a statement the day after the protest. The police unions in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and the one representing New Jersey State Police followed suit.
Another potential motive catalyzing the writer-director could be his cousin, 81-year-old retired police officer Frank Gucciardi, who has spoken out against his relative's "shocking" comments.
Gucciardi, who was nearly trampled to death at an anti-Vietnam war protest held at Columbia University in 1968, told the New York Post that police are the nation's first line of defense.
“I’m just shocked at the statements he made” at an Oct. 24 rally in Washington Square Park, Gucciardi, 81, told The Post Saturday from his home in Florida
“The police in this country are the first line of defense,” said Gucciardi, who still suffers pain from the broken back he suffered from being stomped nearly to death by rioting students during Vietnam War protests at Columbia University in 1968.
“Anything that happens, they call the police out first — from a simple dispute, to an auto accident, to a bomb threat, to an actual explosion like the Twin Towers,” he said.
This would not be the first time a member of the entertainment industry made damning comments that could negatively impact his or her career. What is most ironic in this case, however, is that Tarantino's plot-lines are notoriously riddled with violence. Perhaps the movie director recalled the service and sacrifice of his cousin and came to regret his comments, or perhaps movie executives feared the box-office impact Tarantino's comments could cause and forced his hand. Whatever the case, Tarantino was not the first, and will hardly be the last person in Hollywood to make such ill-informed remarks.
http://www.truthrevolt.org/news/report-quentin-tarantino-expected-apologize-police
