As
CFP reported earlier this week, an anti-police demonstration was held in New York City less than two days after Officer Raymond Holder was shot and killed while in the exercise of his duties in East Harlem.
Director Quentin Tarantino spoke at the protest, accusing police officers of being murderers. The president of NYC’s Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association called for a boycott of Tarantino’s movies, saying he has no business coming to New York and peddling his “Cop Fiction.”
The calls for boycotts have now spread. Police unions in Los Angeles, Chicago, New Jersey, Philadelphia and Houston have added their organizations to the proposed boycotts.
The
National Association of Police Organizations has also called for a boycott of the director. In a press release [PDF] issued yesterday, NAPO called for more than just a boycott of Tarantino’s movies. The release, in part, read, “Furthermore, we ask officers to stop working special assignments or off-duty jobs, such as providing security, traffic control or technical advice for any of Tarantino’s projects. We need to send a loud and clear message that such hateful rhetoric against police officers is unacceptable.”
If the boycott of working on the shooting of Tarantino’s movies can be carried out, it would pretty well prevent the director from shooting any film on location.
Of course, police unions are not the only ones upset by Tarantino’s description of police as murderers. One of these is the director’s father who is none too pleased with his little boy.
Tony Tarantino, 75,
said, “I love my son and have great respect for him as an artist but he is dead wrong in calling police officers, particularly in New York City where I grew up, murderers.”
The elder Tarantino said his son was passionate “but sometimes he lets his passion blind him to the facts and to reality.”
Tarantino’s father described the men and women of the NYPD as “heroes.”
But of course, Tarantino has his defenders and those of us living in Canada have to look no further than the
Canadian Press. The headline of the story says it all; “Quentin Tarantino, condemned by police, gets support from protesters.”
Well, the protestors at the NYC demonstration that chanted “Now is the time to rebel. NYPD go to hell” support the director. Who da thunk it!
Hopefully the boycott will be a success in terms of preventing Tarantino from filming on location, an activity that necessitates the presence of
murderers police officers.
