“I hope he doesn’t make an a– of himself and keep talking that way.” Those were the words of Roman Polanski rape victim Samantha Geimer in response to Quentin Tarantino‘s recently unearthed comments from 2003 wherein he defended the filmmaker, who pleaded guilty in 1977 to sexually assaulting the then 13-year-old Geimer. The director faced backlash online for what he said on “The Howard Stern Show,” in which he nauseatingly claimed that Geimer “wanted to have it… she was down with this.”
“He didn’t rape a 13-year-old. It was statutory rape… he had sex with a minor. That’s not rape. To me, when you use the word rape, you’re talking about violent, throwing them down — it’s like one of the most violent crimes in the world. You can’t throw the word rape around. It’s like throwing the word ‘racist’ around. It doesn’t apply to everything people use it for,” Tarantino stated in 2003.
The filmmaker has had fifteen years to reflect on those comments, and in a statement provided to Indiewire, he admits he was “ignorant,” “insensitive,” and “incorrect.” Here’s what he had to say:
I want to publicly apologize to Samantha Geimer for my cavalier remarks on “The Howard Stern Show” speculating about her and the crime that was committed against her. Fifteen years later, I realize how wrong I was. Ms. Geimer WAS raped by Roman Polanski. When Howard brought up Polanski, I incorrectly played devil’s advocate in the debate for the sake of being provocative. I didn’t take Ms. Geimer’s feelings into consideration and for that I am truly sorry.
So, Ms. Geimer, I was ignorant, and insensitive, and above all, incorrect.
I am sorry Samantha.
Quentin Tarantino
Whether this statement will quell the current online storm around the filmmaker remains to seen. Between his Polanski comments and Uma Thurman‘s account of working with him on “Kill Bill,” there appears to be reassessment happening around Tarantino’s work, and the celebrated director is facing far more scrutiny than he ever has in his career.