‘I realise how wrong I was’
The past few months in the entertainment industry have seen a wave of actresses come forward with sexual harassment and assault allegations against Hollywood heavyweights, from Harvey Weinstein and Dustin Hoffman to Kevin Spacey and James Franco.
But while the revelations have undoubtedly been painful, they have opened people’s eyes to the extent of sexual abuse, with 54-year-old director Quentin Tarantino apologising this week for not taking them seriously in the past.
This week, a 2003 interview of Tarantino on The Howard Stern Show resurfaced, showing the director defend disgraced French filmmaker Roman Polanski, arrested and charged in 1977 with five sexual offences against 13-year-old Samantha Geimer.
During his appearance on The Howard Stern Show, Tarantino rubbished the allegations against Polanski, insisting that it was consensual and arguing that having sex with a minor was not the same as rape, explaining, ‘she was down with this.’
This week however, Quentin Tarantino has spoken out about the incidents again, and this time, following the Me Too and Time’s Up movements, he’s taking it seriously.
‘I want to publicly apologise to Samantha Geimer for my cavalier remarks on The Howard Stern Show speculating about her and the crime that was committed against her,’ he explained. ‘Fifteen years later, I realize how wrong I was.’
He continued: ‘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.’
