The New Jersey State PBA has joined police departments in New York, Philadelphia and Los Angeles in calling for a boycott of Quentin Tarantino's films.
The New Jersey State PBA has joined police departments in New York, Philadelphia and Los Angeles in calling for a boycott of Quentin Tarantino's films.
"Mr. Tarantino should be mindful of the potential dangers that can result from the dangerous rhetoric once it is ingrained in the mind of a person who is willing to harm an officer," New Jersey PBA President Pat Colligan said in a statement Wednesday night.
Last week, Tarantino participated in an anti-police brutality rally in New York City.
"When I see murders, I do not stand by, I have to call a murder a murder and I have to call the murderers the murderers," Tarantino told a crowd of protesters, according to news reports.
Tarantino is a film director, producer and screenwriter known for his violent and bloody American crime dramas such as "Pulp Fiction," "Reservoir Dogs" and "Django Unchained."
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In response to the police boycotts, Cornel West, a professor emeritus at Princeton University and one of the founders of #RiseUpOctober, the group that held the New York rally, said he didn't want the boycotts to distract from what the group was trying to accomplish.
#RiseUpOctober protests the deaths of "black and brown lives ... stolen by police." Specifically, the group is protesting the deaths of Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Aiyana Jones, Freddie Gray, Rekia Boyd, Andy Lopez and Tamir Rice at the hands of police.
"Can we keep the focus on what I, Brother Carl Dix, Brother Quentin Tarantino, Sister Eve Ensler, and THOUSANDS of others tried to do - a moral focus on the unnecessary deaths of those killed by police. Of course the killing of police is wrong but the killers do go to prison. Ought not policemen go to prison when they kill us?" West said in a statement.
The protest occurred days after a New York City police officer was shot and killed in the line of duty.
"Quentin Tarantino needs to understand that as a public figure his voice is one that people listen to," Colligan said. "He has an obligation to be more responsible. This is not a movie, this is real life where police officers lives are impacted by his words."
After the rally, the New York Patrolmen's Benevolent Association called on New Yorkers to boycott Quentin Tarantino movies. The union was soon joined by police unions in Los Angeles and Philadelphia.
The New Jersey State PBA has more than 32,000 members.
Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook.