New York police union calls for boycott of Quentin Tarantino films

New York City’s police union is calling for a boycott of Quentin Tarantino films after the director took part in a protest against police brutality in the city on Saturday.

“I’m a human being with a conscience,” Tarantino said at the event. “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.”

In a statement Sunday, Police Benevolent Association president Patrick J. Lynch said, “It’s no surprise that someone who makes a living glorifying crime and violence is a cop-hater, too.”

“The police officers that Quentin Tarantino calls ‘murderers’ aren’t living in one of his depraved big screen fantasies — they’re risking and sometimes sacrificing their lives to protect communities from real crime and mayhem,” the statement continued. “New Yorkers need to send a message to this purveyor of degeneracy that he has no business coming to our city to peddle his slanderous ‘Cop Fiction.’ It’s time for a boycott of Quentin Tarantino’s films.”

Saturday’s rally, organized by the group RiseUpOctober, came less than a week after a New York police officer, Randolph Holder, was shot and killed on the job. Tarantino told the New York Post the timing of the event was “unfortunate,” but people had already flown in to be part of the demonstration. “That cop that was killed, that’s a tragedy, too,” he said.

Holder’s cousin Shauntel Abrams, 27, also spoke to the Post as she and other relatives gathered at a church ahead of the officer’s funeral on Wednesday.

“I think it’s very disrespectful,” Abrams said of the protest. “Everyone forgets that behind the uniform is a person.”