Director Quentin Tarantino has come out to apologize to the woman who accused Roman Polanski of rape for his “cavalier remarks.”
“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,” the director’s formal written apology began.
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“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,” Tarantino added.
“So, Ms. Geimer, I was ignorant, and insensitive, and above all, incorrect. I am sorry Samantha,” his statement concluded, according to THR.
A 2003 interview with Tarantino recently resurfaced in which he defended Polanski by saying the director’s relationship with a 13-year-old girl “wasn’t rape.”
The woman who accused Polanski, Samantha Geimer, spoke to reporters shortly after the interview began making headlines and said that Tarantino’s statements were “wrong. I bet he knows it.”
The recorded conversation Tarantino had with Stern came to light in the wake of allegations that he forced Uma Thurman into a dangerous stunt on the set of Kill Bill.
While speaking to Stern and his co-host Robin Quivers, the conversation turned to Polanski and the controversial story that in 1977 he was charged with “rape by use of drugs, perversion, sodomy, lewd and lascivious act upon a child under 14, and furnishing a controlled substance to a minor.”
“He didn’t rape a 13-year-old. It was statutory rape, that’s not quite the same thing,” Tarantino said. “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. He was guilty of having sex with a minor,” the Pulp Fiction director continued. “She wanted to have it. Dated the guy… and by the way, we’re talking about America’s morals, we’re not talking about the morals in Europe and everything.”
After Stern questioned why a “grown man” couldn’t see that sex with a minor was inappropriate, Tarantino fired back, “Look, she was down with it and she’s talked about it. I’m right, she’s talked about it. Now she’s an adult, she’s got a whole other story.”
Someone then read a transcript of the victim’s testimony, and this did little to quell Tarantino’s bold defense. “Of course she’s gonna say this because she knows she was in trouble with her mom,” the filmmaker said. “[Polanki’s] version sounds more likely, sounds really really more likely.”
