Quentin Tarantino Defends Roman Polanski's Statutory Rape: "She Wanted It"

From a purely personal relations standpoint, Quentin Tarantino has had a nightmare of a week - and that is overlooking the standards and morality of the subject matter. The infamous director would cause headlines when he decided to cast Roman Polanski in his upcoming 1969 feature set amid the backdrop of the Charles Manson killings, yet that would only prove to be the entree to a wave of criticism and resurfaced comments that would come back to haunt The Hateful Eight filmmaker.

A taped interview with Howard Stern back in 2003 would shed new light on the pair's relationship as well as Tarantino's own conduct and behavior towards cases of sexual misconduct. Leaving the United States in 1978 after sodomizing and raping then 13-year old Samantha Geimer at Jack Nicholson's Hollywood Hills residence, Tarantino dissolved the disgraced filmmaker of all blame to leave the host stunned.

Geimer: Tarantino Is Wrong, But Don't Be Angry For Me

Participating in the interview on the same year his blockbuster Kill Bill: Volume 1 was released, Tarantino tried to achieve the impossible - defend Polanski's rape of a 13-year old child.

"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," Tarantino quipped to Stern. "She wanted to have it."

While this is the first time many have heard the comments, the victim herself explained that there is no need to be angry. Geimer believes they speak for themselves and it is up for others to judge.

"I hope he doesn’t make an ass of himself and keep talking that way,” she told the New York Daily News. "I do not need other people weighing in on what it’s like getting raped at 13... I’m not upset, but I would probably feel better if (Tarantino) realises now that he was wrong, after 15 years, after hearing the facts. Nobody has to be pissed off on my behalf. I’m okay."

2018 Tarantino Controversy: Volume 2

i post this clip to memorialize it’s full exposure in the nyt by Maureen Dowd. the circumstances of this event were negligent to the point of criminality. i do not believe though with malicious intent. Quentin Tarantino, was deeply regretful and remains remorseful about this sorry event, and gave me the footage years later so i could expose it and let it see the light of day, regardless of it most likely being an event for which justice will never be possible. he also did so with full knowledge it could cause him personal harm, and i am proud of him for doing the right thing and for his courage. THE COVER UP after the fact is UNFORGIVABLE. for this i hold Lawrence Bender, E. Bennett Walsh, and the notorious Harvey Weinstein solely responsible. they lied, destroyed evidence, and continue to lie about the permanent harm they caused and then chose to suppress. the cover up did have malicious intent, and shame on these three for all eternity. CAA never sent anyone to Mexico. i hope they look after other clients more respectfully if they in fact want to do the job for which they take money with any decency.

A post shared by Uma Thurman (@ithurman) on Feb 5, 2018 at 10:15am PST

Having made a connection between two cases of abuse over the course of her career between Harvey Weinstein and Tarantino, Uma Thurman clearly wanted to set the record straight this week. Looking back on one car incident that should have been avoided during Kill Bill production, the director would put his cards on the table as Thurman published the video on social media of her crash.

"Quentin Tarantino, was deeply regretful and remains remorseful about this sorry event, and gave me the footage years later so i could expose it and let it see the light of day, regardless of it most likely being an event for which justice will never be possible."

Speaking with Deadline, Tarantino attempted to defend himself against Thurman's accusations that he aggressively forced her to drive down an unsafe passage of road for Kill Bill. Admitting that it was one of the greatest regrets of his life, he did stop short of offering a fully fledged apology to say that his demands were nothing close to forceful.