Quentin Tarantino apologizes for his Roman Polanski comments in resurfaced 2003 interview
Ever since the sexual assault and harassment allegations came out against ex-Miramax mogul Harvey Weinstein last fall, a question has been hanging in the air: What about Quentin Tarantino, one of Weinstein’s longest and closest collaborators? Initially, Tarantino was able to (temporarily) deflect criticism with a long interview with The New York Times about his relationship with Weinstein, but Uma Thurman’s story about her car crash on the set of Kill Bill has put Tarantino in the critical spotlight once more.
One of the more prominent critiques is based on a 2003 interview Tarantino did with Howard Stern that resurfaced in our sister publication Jezebel on Monday, in which he defends Roman Polanski and speaks in highly dismissive terms of Samantha Geimer—the then-13-year-old girl Polanski stands accused of raping in 1977—saying she “wanted to have it” and seemingly defending statutory rape. The story got international attention, leading Tarantino to issue an apology earlier today. Here it is, as it was issued to Indiewire: