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Tarantino Says His Statements On Police Brutality Were A 'Misrepresentation'

HOLLYWOOD (CBSLA.com) — Director Quentin Tarantino is responding Tuesday to remarks criticizing his recent statements at an anti-police brutality protest in New York.

"All cops are not murderers," Tarantino said, according to the Los Angeles Times. "I never said that. I never even implied it."

The Los Angeles Police Protective League, which represents the LAPD rank and file, and the Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs has joined forces with the New York Police Department and the Fraternal Order of Police in a boycott against the director, whose latest film, "The Hateful Eight," is scheduled for release on Christmas Day.

"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," a statement from the National Association of Police Organizations said in a statement. "We need to send a loud and clear message that such hateful rhetoric against police officers is unacceptable."

The outcry against Tarentino follows comments he reportedly made at a police brutality protest in New York City on Oct. 24, just days after New York police officer Randolph Holder was killed in the line of duty.

"I'm a human being with a conscience," Tarantino said, according to an Associated Press story. "And if you believe there's murder going on then you need to rise up and stand up against it. I'm here to say I'm on the side of the murdered."

Tarantino's father, Tony Tarantino, has even issued a statement through the New York Police Patrolmen's Benevolent Association saying his son is "dead wrong" about police officers. The director has previously said that his father "was never part of my life."

Expectations are high for "The Hateful Eight," which opens Christmas Day exclusively in film projections of 70mm before expanding to nationwide theaters January 8. Starring Samuel L. Jackson and Kurt Russell, it's a wintery Western about a group of bounty hunters holed up together during a blizzard.

Tarantino's last film, 2012's "Django Unchained," earned $425.4 million globally and won two Oscars, including best screenplay for Tarantino.
Harvey Weinstein, co-chairman of the Weinstein Co., has a long history of using media storms to stoke interest in a movie. This time, the fortunes of "The Hateful Eight" — for better or worse — risk being altered by a controversy not of his making.

"I'm not being intimidated," Tarantino told the Times. "Frankly, it feels lousy to have a bunch of police mouthpieces call me a cop hater. I'm not a cop hater. That is a misrepresentation. That is slanderous. That is not how I feel."

(TM and © Copyright 2015 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2015 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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