NYPD union calls for boycott of Quentin Tarantino films after he marches in protest against police brutality
"I'm a human being with a conscience," Tarantino told The Associated Press. "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, who flew in from California for the protest, gathered with the demonstrators in Manhattan's Washington Square park and then marched two miles along Sixth Avenue.
The event was the last of a three-day demonstration in the city done by RiseUpOctober. Speakers at the protest said they wanted to bring justice for people killed by police, according to the AP story.
Tarantino was one of those speakers. On stage he told the demonstrators, "When I see murder I cannot stand by."
The demonstration on Saturday came four days after New York City police officer Randolph Holder was shot in the head and later died of his injury while responding to a shorts fired call in Manhattan's East Harlem neighborhood.
The Oscar-winner addressed the timing of the event to The New York Post: "It's like this: It's unfortunate timing, but we've flown in all these families to go and tell their stories…That cop that was killed, that's a tragedy, too."
Following the event, New York City's police union called a boycott of Tarantino's films.
"It's no surprise that someone who makes a living glorifying crime and violence is a cop-hater, too," Police Benevolent Association president Patrick J. Lynch said in a statement.
"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."
Watch Tarantino on stage at the rally: