The police brutality issue is uniting officers countrywide once again, this time in the form of a boycott of one of the most anticipated movies of the year, Quentin Tarantino’s Hateful Eight. Tarantino attended the Brooklyn rally against brutality on Oct. 24 where he told The Associated Press: “I’m a human being with a conscience. 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.” Boy, it certainly doesn’t take much to offend people or groups of people these days.
The National Association of Police Organizations has joined a growing number of local police groups in New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Philadelphia and Los Angeles, calling for all police officers to boycott the movie which will be released Christmas Day, exclusively in film projections of 70mm, before expanding to theatres nationwide on January 8. Tarantino has yet to respond publicly to the backlash
Tarantino’s comments drew condemnation from, among others, New York Police Department Commissioner William Bratton. “Shame on him,” he said, speaking shortly after the recent fatal shooting of NYPD officer Randolph Holder in East Harlem. “There are no words to describe the contempt I have for him and his comments at this particular time.” The response has made Tarantino a regular topic on Fox News and at Hollywood soirees, alike. Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly last week said Tarantino “lives in a world of his own.” At the Hollywood Film Awards on Sunday night in Los Angeles, Jamie Foxx, star of Tarantino’s “Django Unchained,” defended the director. Foxx urged him: “Keep telling the truth and don’t worry about none of the haters.”