Quentin Tarantino's Father Joins Police Unions in Condemning Director
"I love my son and have great respect for him as an artist but he is dead wrong in calling police officers, particularly in New York City where I grew up, murderers," Tony Tarantino says
An unlikely ally has joined the NYPD and LAPD police officers unions in condemning Quentin Tarantino for his stance on police brutality: The director's own father. In a statement given to the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association – the NYPD rank-and-file officers union – Tony Tarantino wrote, "I love my son and have great respect for him as an artist but he is dead wrong in calling police officers, particularly in New York City where I grew up, murderers."
At a RiseUpOctober rally in New York, the filmmaker criticized police officers nationwide for the growing number of incidents where unarmed black men are killed by police, from Michael Brown to Eric Garner. "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," Tarantino said at the October 24th rally. However, the protest came at an unfortunate time in New York as the police force was still reeling from the death of an officer who was killed in the line of duty in East Harlem four days earlier.
In Tony Tarantino's statement on behalf of the PBA, the actor explained of his son, "He is a passionate man and that comes out in his art but sometimes he lets his passion blind him to the facts and to reality. I believe that is what happened when he joined in those anti-cop protests. I wish he would take a hard, dispassionate look at the facts before jumping to conclusions and making these kinds of hurtful mistakes that dishonor an honorable profession."
The statement arrives as more police officers union across the country – including Philadelphia's Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5 and New Jersey's Police Benevolent Association – have called for a boycott of the director's films, starting with the Christmas-bound Western The Hateful Eight, USA Today reports.
"We are very grateful to Tony Tarantino for having the courage to speak out and support the police," Patrolmen's Benevolent Association president Patrick Lynch said in a statement. "It is not easy criticizing someone you care about. But his son, Quentin Tarantino, has insulted the very people who protect his freedom of speech and who facilitate the making of his films. He owes an apology to law enforcement officers across country and we will continue to encourage the boycotting of his films until he makes such an apology. The list of police agencies across the country who will boycott Quentin Tarantino's films is long and growing."
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