Tarantino Defending Polanski (Howard Stern)

Sorry, Quentin. It was rape.

It's worth noting that Tarantino has since apologised and said that he was wrong.

I won't watch a Tarantino film. I will watch a Polanski film.

But do you think he really meant it?

It's hard to say. We can't know his heart or mind, but I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Polanski's victim, Samantha Geimer, has forgiven Polanski and said she is not upset about Tarantino's remarks. In regards to Tarantino's comments, she said: "Nobody has to be pissed off on my behalf. I’m O.K.” Here is a link to an article where she stated that:

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood...lanski-apology

I can never know if he meant it, but I'm willing to believe he did, and more importantly I'm willing to treat apologies as prima facie genuine unless I have a clear reason to suspect otherwise.

One could argue that the only purpose of the apology is the symbol of agreeing to apologize, whether you mean it or not. Obviously an apology doesn't make any other comments go away, so in these cases the only value it has is that social signal of unacceptability, anyway.

He was 40-years-old when he did this interview. At the age of 40, Quentin Tarantino thought that what Polanski did was OK, and referred to the "commonality" of these "13-year-old party girls" as if they were a typical accessory of parties. If he evolved, great. But my God is that a late stage for growth on that topic.



It was so bad that Howard and Robin had to be the voice of reason and repeatedly assert that this is actually rape, which Tarantino repeatedly denied or only admitted that it's illegal (still willing to argue to the morality of it by comparison to European nations in that interview).



I am not calling for banning Tarantino or cancelling him or not watching his movies, but I think that the interview is telling in that it reveals a profound split between Weinstein Country and the where the rest of us live. And this is why I don't take moral advice from professional pretenders and bulls**t artists.

John Ford hates native Americans.

He's also 50 years dead. The people who fete Polanski, apologize for Polanski, equivocate on the status of rape of a 13-year-old, however, are still making movies.

Usually hard-hitting interviewer Barbara Walters' response to Cory Feldman trying to whistle blow on this sort of thing was to shut him down with "You're Damaging An Entire Industry."

Do we want Kevin Spacey and Harvey Weinstein? Because this is the sort of shade these mushrooms thrive in.

I mean if you want to blow this off with a hand-wavy, "He apologized," then go for it, but I think that this is suggestive of the sort of thing that kicked off #metoo.


Again, I am not going to stop watching Tarantino films because of a bad take on Sterne, but damned if that is not a bad take which appears to be symptomatic of a certain stream of thought.


And let's not forget that people like Woody Allen basically got away with it.

I wasn't blowing anything off, good for Corey to speak out if these are things that happened.

Who did *Tarantino rape again?...No one that I've heard of, so why would anyone want to ban/cancel him? I don't watch his movies as I don't like his movies or him.


*disclaimer: no one in this thread said Tarantino should be canceled, I'm talking in broader general terms as the idea was mentioned.

"If Death Proof didn't get me canceled nothing will. Hey ohh."
- QT

Tarantino is symptomatic of a wider problem. He's presumptively NOT a rapist (as all of us are presumed innocent of any crime), but he is working hard in an interview broadcast to millions to apologize for a rapist, and that's weird. He is talking about "these 13-year-old party girls" and that's weird. He's making Robin and Howard sound like the voice of reason, and that's weird.

Question: do you personally cancel his movies? If so why? If not why?

I don't punish the artwork for the sins of the father.



If it turned out he was a rapist, I would convict him as an empaneled juror in such case that the evidence proved his guilt. And then I would watch Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown and wonder why Citizen Rules hates good movies.

At least you answered. Another question unrelated to this topic, are you using Firefox on a PC to post? I do have a legit reason for asking, (it's not a trick question btw).

I don't know if his apology was genuine or if he just apologized in an attempt to put an end to the controversy (that he said this after 40+ years in his life though is really fishy), but I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt with no evidence to the contrary. But of course, given how creepy his comments were, it's also valid not to forgive him.

I'm just curious how soon he apologized for his comments after this interview took place.

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Yep, Firefox on a laptop.

The interview was in 2003 and the first I saw him apologize for him comments was in 2018.

Thanks. I asked because I noticed post here at MoFo were having big double spaces for paragraphs.



I use Firefox too and have been trying to figure out a solution to that...Back to the convo at hand