The NYPD Is Trying To Boycott Quentin Tarantino
By: Kari Sonde
Last Saturday, Oscar-winning director Quentin Tarantino flew into NYC from California to protest disproportionate police brutality towards African Americans during the “#RiseUpOctober” march. In response, this week it has been reported that the New York police union is calling for a boycott of his movies.
Rolling Stone reported that Tarantino addressed the march’s crowd, a group of approximately 300 at Washington Square Park.
“This is not being dealt with in any way at all,” Tarantino said about police brutality, “That’s why we are out here. If it was being dealt with, then these murdering cops would be in jail or at least be facing charges.”
Rolling Stone reports that he also said, “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’s remarks came at an awkward time for police/populous interactions. On October 20, a New York police officer was shot and killed in East Harlem chasing an armed suspect.
As reported by Vulture, Tarantino addressed the killing of this policeman.
“It’s like this: it’s unfortunate timing, but we’ve flown in all these families to go and tell their stories… that cop that was killed, that’s a tragedy, too,” said Tarantino.
The president of NYC Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, Patrick Lynch, released a statement in response that called for a boycott of Tarantino’s films.
In it, Lynch points out Tarantino’s rather violent films, and suggests that Tarantino “makes a living glorifying crime,” inferring from this that Tarantino must be a “cop-hater.”
“The police officers that Quentin Tarantino calls ‘murderers’ aren’t living in one of his depraved big screen fantasies,” says Lynch in the statement, “They’re risking and sometimes sacrificing their lives to protect communities from real crime and mayhem.”
To his point, Tarantino’s films don’t exactly paint a great picture of cops: in Pulp Fiction, for example, the only cop that appears secretly sodomizes captives in a basement under a pawnshop.
Lynch also calls Tarantino a “purveyor of degeneracy.” I don’t know what he means by that.
The”#RiseUpOctober” protest was in response to the deaths of Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Aiyana Jones, and more. “#RiseUpOctober” was a three day event, culminating in the rally on Saturday.
Gothamist reported that 11 protesters were arrested during the protests for disorderly conduct, obstructing traffic, and resisting arrest. Two arrests were caught on video. Radio host Russell Johnson from Asheville, North Carolina was injured during the event, and had to wait 40 minutes for an ambulance.
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