Quentin Tarantino, “The Hateful Eight” director who smeared police officers as “murderers” at an anti-cop hate rally in New York City two weekends ago, will appear with Chris Hayes on MSNBC tonight. And if recent past is prologue, Tarantino will arrive on the MSNBC set nailed to his own pathetic little homemade cross.
At that rally, while standing before a sign that read “Stop Police Terrorism,” Tarantino spewed this:
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. … “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.”
And now that legions of police organizations across the nation have taken offense and called for boycotts of “The Hateful Eight,” now that he’s facing the worst publicity of his twenty-plus year career, Tarantino isn’t apologizing for the kind of slander that can only lead to more violence. Instead, the millionaire crybaby is posing as the victim: [emphasis mine]
“What they’re doing is pretty obvious,” he told the LA Times. “Instead of dealing with the incidents of police brutality that those people were bringing up, instead of examining the problem of police brutality in this country, better they single me out. And their message is very clear. It’s to shut me down. It’s to discredit me. It is to intimidate me. It is to shut my mouth, and even more important than that, it is to send a message out to any other prominent person that might feel the need to join that side of the argument.”
There is not a person in the world with an IQ above room temperature who believes that.
Had Tarantino spoke of police brutality, and condemned specific instances and individuals, no one would be taking any of his critics seriously, and I doubt there would be any critics to begin with.
Describing anyone not convicted in a court of law as a “murderer” is bad enough. To carelessly hurl the word “murderers” in reference to police officers is simply beyond comprehension. These men and women face danger for a living, and to slip the idea into people’s heads that they are murderers could result in unspeakable tragedy.
Someone who believes they are being chased, stopped, or detained by a murderer is a lot more likely to behave in a way that will result in both of them being hurt or killed.
Tarantino is not under fire making a divisive police statement. No one called for boycotts when he came out in favor of gun control. This is not about politics.
When you call innocent people murderers, people are going to push back.
Though I doubt there will be much push back on MSNBC.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC