Quentin Tarantino has issued an apology for suggesting in a 2003 interview that Samantha Geimer welcomed being raped by Roman Polanski when she was 13 in 1977.
“I want to publicly apologize to Samantha Geimer for my cavalier remarks on The Howard Stern Show speculating about her and the crime that was committed against her,” the Kill Bill director, 54, said in a statement to Us Weekly on Thursday, February 8.
“Fifteen years later, I realize how wrong I was. Ms. Geimer WAS raped by Roman Polanski,” he continued. “When Howard brought up Polanski, I incorrectly played devil’s advocate in the debate for the sake of being provocative. I didn’t take Ms. Geimer’s feelings into consideration and for that I am truly sorry. So, Ms. Geimer, I was ignorant, and insensitive, and above all, incorrect. I am sorry, Samantha.”
Polanski, 84, was arrested in Los Angeles in March 1977 after sexually assaulting Geimer. She testified at the time that the Rosemary’s Baby director gave her champagne and a quaalude before performing oral, vaginal and anal sex on her despite her refusals. He pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with a minor but then fled to France hours before his sentencing.
A clip of Tarantino discussing the scandal during a controversial 2003 radio interview with Howard Stern resurfaced online earlier this week. At the time, the filmmaker suggested that the teenager “wanted to have it” and “was down with this.” Geiger, now 54, later told the New York Daily News, “[Tarantino] was wrong. I bet he knows it. I hope he doesn’t make an ass of himself and keep talking that way.”
