Speaking to Howard Stern in 2003, the Kill Bill director insisted Polanski wasn't guilty of rape as the girl 'wanted to have it'
A SHOCKING interview has resurfaced in which Quentin Tarantino defends Roman Polanski for raping 13-year-old girl who was “down to party”.
Polanski was charged in 1977 over the sexual assault of 13-year-old model Samantha Gailey.
After pleading guilty to the lesser charge of having unlawful sex with a minor, Polanski fled the US to avoid jail time and has mostly lived in France ever since.
Many Hollywood figures have stood up for Polanski over the years – including Tarantino who defended his actions in a 2003 interview with Howard Stern, which has recirculated this week.
Tarantino argued Gailey was willingly dating Polanski when she was 13 and he was in his 40s.
He also claims it wasn’t rape because she was “down with” having sex with him.
Roman Polanski admitted having unlawful sex with a minor in the 1970s
Tarantino was blasted as “scum” by fans for defending fellow film-maker.
Tarantino says: “He didn’t rape a 13-year-old. It was statutory rape, all right. That’s not quite the same thing.
“He had sex with a minor, all right. That’s not rape.
“To me, when you use the word ‘rape’ you’re talking about violent, throwing them down — it’s one of the most violent crimes in the world.
“Throwing the word ‘rape’ around is like throwing the word ‘racist’ around – it just doesn’t apply to everything that people use it for.”
When asked whether Polanski forced himself on her, Tarantino said Gailey “wanted to have it”.
He said: “We’re talking about America’s morals, we’re not talking about the morals in Europe and everything.
“Look, she was down with it.”
Polanski will be a key character in Tarantino’s next film – a dramatisation of the 1969 Manson Family killings, which saw members of Charles Manson’s cult break into the director’s Hollywood home and kill his heavily pregnant wife, actress Sharon Tate.
The interview resurfaced this week amid fierce criticism of Tarantino’s conduct over Uma Thurman’s near-fatal car crash on the set of Tarantino’s Kill Bill.
Speaking to The New York Times, Thurman recalled how Tarantino refused her request for a stuntwoman and made her do the driving for one shot – despite her fears the car was not safe.
Footage published at the weekend shows Thurman smash the car into a palm tree.
But the actress praised Tarantino for finally passing her the footage, saying: “I am proud of him for doing the right thing and for his courage.”
Tarantino said he still feels “guilty” branding it one of the “biggest regrets of his life”.
A version of this story originally appeared on .
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