Video: Quentin Tarantino Says He's Not A Cop Hater, Criticizes "Blue Wall" With Bill Maher
Nov. 7, 2015, 10:45 a.m.
"The fact that they will protect their own as opposed to put themselves at the betterment of citizenry."
Quentin Tarantino continued trading barbs with police unions last night during an appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher. Among other things, he vehemently denied being a "cop hater" and strongly criticized the "blue wall:" "It’s a hydra, it’s a snake with many heads," Tarantino said. "But the biggest head that needs to be chopped off first is this blue wall idea. The fact that they will protect their own as opposed to put themselves at the betterment of citizenry."
"If [the police unions] were saying what I said and they had a problem with that, well then now we're actually talking about the problem," Tarantino said, reiterating the points he made refuting the police unions earlier this week. "But they're not dealing in a fair issue. They're saying I'm a cop hater, which is slander because I didn't say that. And they're implying that I meant that all cops are murderers, and I wasn't. But the sad thing is, we really need to talk to the cops about this, we need to get to the problem, we need to bring this to the table" Tarantino added, saying he wouldn't stop talking about the police issues despite threats and attempts at intimidation.
"If they were really really serious about this," he argued, "they wouldn’t close rank on what I’m obviously talking about, which is bad cops."
Tarantino and Maher were also joined by Anthony Weiner, David Frum & Jillian Melchior for the roundtable discussion, where they discussed television, Bernie Sanders and more. It turns out Weiner has a really good Larry David impression!
Reacting about as Tarantino might expect, The Fraternal Order of Police announced Friday it has laid a trap for the director, which is as sketchy and mysterious as it sounds: "Something is in the works, but the element of surprise is the most important element," national FOP honcho Jim Pasco told The Hollywood Reporter. "The right time and place will come up and we’ll try to hurt him in the only way that seems to matter to him, and that’s economically."
