Quentin Tarantino apologises for defending Roman Polanski in 2003 interview: I realise how wrong I was

Quentin Tarantino —  who is facing severe backlash  after his 2003 audio interview with Howard Stern resurfaced where he defended Roman Polanski and claimed that Polanski’s sexual assault survivor, Samantha Geimer, “wanted it” — has issued an apology to her. [caption id=“attachment_4339631” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Quentin Tarantino. Image from Twitter/@Variety[/caption] After being on the receiving end of severe criticism, Tarantino has changed his point of view about the incident, calling his remarks “cavalier”. “Fifteen years later, I realize how wrong I was. Ms. Geimer WAS raped by Roman Polanski,” said Tarantino, according to a Variety report. Tarantino was already in the eye of the storm after Uma Thurman’s revelations about disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein’s sexual abuse, and a dangerous car stunt (insisted upon by Tarantino) gone wrong on the sets of Kill Bill which almost cost Thurman her life. Tarantino swiftly responded with his side of the story calling it the "biggest regret" of his life , and Thurman supported and confirmed his stand, clarifying that she does not blame Tarantino for the alleged cover up of her car crash, the repercussions of which (permanent neck and knee damage) she is facing till today. Barely having emerged from this quagmire — especially given his close collaboration with Weinstein throughout his career along with his recent admission that he did not do enough to prevent the serial abuse by Weinstein which he was somewhat aware of — Tarantino was once again hit by controversy as audio from a 2003 interview with Howard Stern resurfaced. In the interview Tarantino had distastefully defended Polanski and said, “He didn’t rape a 13-year-old. It was statutory rape…he had sex with a minor.” In the interview he also said, “She wanted to have it and dated the guy and — Look, she was down with this.” Roman Polanski has previously pleaded guilty to having unlawful sex with Samantha Geimer when she was 13 , who had accused him of drugging, raping and sodomising her. Tarantino’s next film on the Manson murders might also feature Roman Polanski’s character since one of the murder victims was Polanski’s heavily pregnant wife, actress Sharon Tate.