As more police unions nationwide joined the boycottagainst Quentin Tarantinoafter the filmmaker spoke at RiseUpOctobers anti-police brutality rally on October 20th, Tarantino appeared on All In With Chris Hayesto clarify his remarks. Im not a cop hater, Tarantino said after being labeledas such by police unions across the country. Anybody who acknowledges that theres a problem in law enforcement in this country right now is consideredby law enforcement as part of the problem, whether that be me, whether that be [New York mayor] Bill de Blasio, whether that be President Barack Obama.
At the rally, Tarantino called some police officers murderers,and while he stood by the crux of those comments, he fine-tuned his rationale on MSNBC. We were at a rally where unarmed people mostly black and brown who have been shot and killed or beaten or strangled by the police, and I was obviously referring to the people in those types of situations. I was referring to Eric Garner, I was referring to Sam DuBose, I was referring to Antonio Guzman Lopez, I was referring to Tamir Rice, the director said. In those cases in particular that were talking about, I actually do believe that they were murder.
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Tarantino admitted he was alarmed by the backlash from his rally comments. I was surprised. I was under the impression I was American and had First Amendment rights and there was no problem with me going to an anti-police brutality protest and speaking my mind, Tarantino said of the police outcry. Just because I went to an anti-police brutality protest doesnt mean Im anti-police.
Tarantino added that instead of law enforcement tackling police brutality directly, hes being used as a scapegoat to further avoid the issue. There was a lot of people at that rally, and we were all crying for a lot of things, but there was one thing in particular, which was Stop shooting unarmed people. We want justice, but stop shooting unarmed people, Tarantino continued. But [law enforcement] dont want to deal with that. They would rather start arguments with celebrities than examine the concerns put before them by a citizenry thats lost trust in them.