Resurfaced interview shows Quentin Tarantino defending Roman Polanski: "The 13-year-old wanted..."
French-Polish director Roman Polanski fled the United States in 1978 after being accused of raping a minor in 1973. According to CBS News, in a 1977 plea agreement, Polanski acknowledged statutory rape of 13-year-old Samantha Geimer. However, acclaimed filmmaker Quentin Tarantino defended Polanski by stating that the teen victim “wanted to have it and dated the guy" while appearing on 'The Howard Stern Show' in 2003. As per Variety, Tarantino's past has come to haunt him again after the said interview resurfaced online recently.
The 'Pulp Fiction' director shockingly continued to justify Polanski's actions, “He didn’t rape a 13-year-old,” he said in the unearthed clip. “It was statutory rape. That’s not quite the same thing. He had sex with a minor. That’s not rape." He further explained his point of view, "To me, when you use the word ‘rape,’ you’re talking about violence, throwing them down; it’s like one of the most violent crimes in the world. Throwing the word ‘rape’ around is like throwing the word ‘racist’ around. It doesn’t apply to everything that people use it for. He was guilty of having sex with a minor.”
Throughout the episode co-host Robin Quivers insisted that the sexual charges leveled against Polanski were legit and that he had admitted to the non-consensual nature of sex. Quivers went on to remind Tarantino that the victim was underage and did not have the mental capacity to decide anything about the alleged relationship. However, the 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' director refused to accept the stance and remained firm in his opinion. “And by the way, we’re talking about America’s morals, we’re not talking about the morals in Europe and everything,” he butted in.
Stern had to intervene and point out that it was still criminal to indulge in sexual activities with a minor. “Wait a minute. If you have sex with a 13-year-old girl and you’re a grown man, you know that that’s wrong,” he phrased the question. Tarantino still didn't budge from his controversial views, “Look, she was down with this. … She’s talked about it since, ‘No, he didn’t really do anything to me. It was a technicality for being 13.'” After hearing the famed director's frank comments regarding a serious case, Stern and his co-host were obviously taken aback.
“Would you ever seduce a 13-year-old with pills and booze?” the seasoned podcast host then threw a direct question at Tarantino. “No, no, no. Again, you’re killing him with the pills and booze thing,” the 'Kill Bill' director casually framed. “He likes girls," he added while referring to the sexual preference of the accused French director. In 2018, the Oscar winner labeled his insensitive comments as 'ignorance' and apologized to Geimer via a press statement to Indiewire, “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,” he wrote. Tarantino further stated that he was sorry for being inconsiderate and disregarding Geimer's feelings.