Some law enforcement agencies are calling for a boycott of Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming film, “The Hateful Eight,” a Western scheduled for release on Dec. 25, in protest against a statement he made describing people killed by police as murder victims.
They include the New York Police Department, the Los Angeles Police Protective, which represents the LAPD rank and file, the Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs, and the Fraternal Order of Police.
The outcry against the director follows comments he reportedly made at a police brutality protest in New York City on Oct. 24, just days after New York police officer Randolph Holder was killed in the line of duty.
“I’m a human being with a conscience,” Tarantino said, according to an Associated Press story. “And if you believe there’s murder going on then you need to rise up and stand up against it. I’m here to say I’m on the side of the murdered.”
The Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs announcement follows a similar statement sent Monday by the National President of the Fraternal Order of Police, Chuck Canterbury, to FOP members. He said officers take “great offense” at Tarantino’s comments, particularly seeing how Tarantino’s career was built on “glorifying criminal violence,” the Los Angeles Times reported.
“If Mr. Tarantino truly wished to be on ‘the side of the murdered,’ he would speak in defense of Officer Holder and the 37 other law enforcement officers who were killed in the line of duty in 2015. Thirty-eight dead police officers may not be much of a body count for a Tarantino film, but to the brave men and women of the Fraternal Order of Police, it is far too many,” Canterbury said, according to The Times.
