Quentin Tarantino Apologizes for Claiming Samantha Geimer Was Not Roman Polanski's Rape Victim
Renowned filmmaker Quentin Tarantino released a statement this week to apologize for what he had said in an interview 15 years ago, where he claimed that Roman Polanski's rape victim, Samantha Geimer, was not a rape victim but a willing participant.
Back in 2003, Tarantino guested on the Howard Stern Show and talked about the Roman Polanski rape case. During the said interview, he implied that Geimer, who was 13 at the time, could not be considered Polanski's rape victim because she wanted to have sex with the actor. When host Robin Quivers told him that Polanski drugged Geimer to have sex with him, Tarantino maintained that it was not the case at all. "She wanted to have it and dated the guy," he said.
Now, 15 years since the interview, Tarantino has issued a statement to apologize for his remarks, saying he was playing devil's advocate when he claimed that the young Geimer was not raped. "I want to publicly apologize for Samantha Geimer for my cavalier remarks on The Howard Stern Show speculating about her and the crime that was committed against her. Fifteen years later, I realize how wrong I was. Ms. Geimer WAS raped by Roman Polanski," he said in his statement.
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Tarantino added that when Howard brought up during that 2003 interview the issue of whether Hollywood should forgive Polanski for raping Geimer, he incorrectly played devil's advocate just for the sake of being provocative. He also apologized for not taking Geimer's feelings into consideration when he gave those remarks.
Following Tarantino's statement, Geimer told the New York Daily News that she feels better now knowing that Tarantino has finally realized he was wrong. Despite that, she said it's not a big deal to her what people think, saying that doesn't make any difference in her life. "I know what happened. I do not need other people weighing in on what it's like getting raped at 13," she said.
