Jamie Foxx defended Quentin Tarantino on stage at the Hollywood Film Awards on Sunday.
Referring to the recent criticism Tarantino has faced from police unions and conservative pundits for attending an anti-police violence rally, Foxx said: "Keep telling the truth, keep speaking the truth and don't worry about none of the haters."
Foxx made the comments as he was presenting an award to the ensemble for Tarantino's new film "Hateful Eight." The cast of the film avoided the controversy as they collected their award.
The storm of controversy surrounding Tarantino began when the director attended a rally protesting police brutality in Brooklyn, New York last Saturday. At the rally, the New York Post reported that Tarantino told the crowd that "[w]hen 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."
The director's comments and presence at the rally led to a backlash from police unions in Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and New York, who all called for a boycott of "Hateful Eight." Conservative media pundits also took Tarantino to task, with Fox News' Bill O'Reilly saying that the filmmaker "lives in a world of his own," and that "facts don't matter, and he has no problem, Tarantino, with spreading big lies."
In an official statement released last week, the Chicago police union said, "We ask that every member in the Law Enforcement community to take a moment to speak with your immediate and extended family members, friends and neighbors and ask them to stand with our Sisters and Brothers in Law Enforcement in this national boycott of his work."
The LAPD referred to Tarantino's comments as "inflammatory rhetoric" and stated that he "took irresponsibility to a new and completely unacceptable level."
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