Rosanna Arquette had a small role in the 1994 classic, Pulp Fiction. And last week, she called out the film’s famed writer and director, Quentin Tarantino, for his history of using the n-word in his movies.
“It’s iconic, a great film on a lot of levels,” she told the UK’s Sunday Times on March 7 while talking about Pulp Fiction. “But personally, I am over the use of the n-word — I hate it. I cannot stand that [Quentin] has been given a hall pass.”
She added: “It’s not art, it’s just racist and creepy.”
It’s no secret that there’s a lot of cursing in Quentin’s movies — which he writes and directs — but the repeated use of the n-word in films like 2012’s Django Unchained and 2015’s The Hateful Eight is particularly controversial.
To contextualize, a 2019 report by the Dallas Observer estimated that the n-word is said roughly 47 times in The Hateful Eight and over 100 times in Django Unchained.
Rosanna is hardly the first person to voice this opinion, but not all of Quentin’s famous collaborators agree with the take. Notably, Samuel L. Jackson — who has acted in six of Quentin’s nine movies (including Pulp Fiction, Django Unchained, and The Hateful Eight) — has defended Quentin’s use of the slur in his scripts, previously calling the backlash “some bullshit.”
“You can’t just tell a writer he can’t talk, write the words, put the words in the mouths of the people from their ethnicities, the way that they use their words. You cannot do that, because then it becomes an untruth; it’s not honest,” he told Esquire in 2019.
Well, now that the debate has been reignited once again, Quentin has responded to Rosanna’s comments in a letter, accusing her of showing a “lack of class” towards him and his work.
“I hope the publicity you’re getting from 132 different media outlets writing your name and printing your picture was worth disrespecting me and a film I remember quite clearly you were thrilled to be a part of?” the director wrote.
“Do you feel this way now? Very possibly,” he continued. “But after I gave you a job, and you took the money, to trash it for what I suspect is very cynical reasons, shows a decided lack of class, no less honor.”
It hasn’t taken long for Quentin’s response to gain traction online, and it’s safe to say that people are not impressed.
For context, Quentin’s harsh response to Rosanna comes just a few months after he was widely called out over his harsh and unwarranted criticism of actors like Paul Dano and Matthew Lillard in December. In light of this, people have highlighted the irony and criticized his lack of self-awareness.