Skip to content

Quentin Tarantino apologizes to Roman Polanski rape victim Samantha Geimer: ‘I realize how wrong I was’

Quentin Tarantino has apologized to Samantha Geimer after suggesting her sex assault by Roman Polanski was “not rape” and that she “wanted to have it.”
10550486_web1_180207-RDA-M-180208-RDA-ENT-Quentin-Tarantino

Quentin Tarantino has apologized to Samantha Geimer after suggesting her sex assault by Roman Polanski was “not rape” and that she “wanted to have it.”

Geimer was 13 years old in 1977 when Polanski plied her with champagne and part of a Quaalude and raped and sodomized her.

Speaking to the Daily News this week, Geimer said Tarantino was “wrong” when he made his comments during a 2003 interview with Howard Stern.

“He is obviously incorrect. Hopefully by now he knows that it didn’t happen that way,” Geimer told The News.

“I’m not upset, but I would probably feel better if he realizes now that he was wrong, after 15 years, after hearing the facts,” she said.

In a statement to IndieWire on Thursday, Tarantino said he regretted his remarks.

“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. Fifteen years later, I realize how wrong I was,” Tarantino said.

“Ms. Geimer WAS raped by Roman Polanski. 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,” he said.

“So, Ms. Geimer, I was ignorant, and insensitive, and above all, incorrect,” he said. “I am sorry Samantha.”

In her interview with The News, Geimer said she was surprised to wake up Tuesday and see the brouhaha over Tarantino’s suggestion her rape at the tender age of 13 was a consensual encounter.

“He was wrong. I bet he knows it,” Geimer told The News.

“I hope he doesn’t make an a — of himself and keep talking that way,” she said.

In the Stern interview that resurfaced late Monday on Jezebel.com, Tarantino was heard defending Polanski’s actions in the criminal case that led to the “Chinatown” director’s conviction and ongoing fugitive status.

“He didn’t rape a 13-year-old. It was statutory rape…he had sex with a minor. That’s not rape. To me, when you use the word rape, you’re talking about violent, throwing them down — it’s like one of the most violent crimes in the world,” Tarantino told Stern and co-host Robin Quivers.

“She wanted to have it,” Tarantino said.

“Wait a minute. If you have sex with a 13-year-old girl and you’re a grown man, you know that that’s wrong,” Stern corrected him.

“Giving her booze and pills,” Quivers said.

“Look, she was down with this,” Tarantino argued, in 2003.

Now living in Hawaii, Geimer said she’s a fan of Tarantino’s work and was willing to forgive and forget considering his more recent comments supporting actress Uma Thurman and other victims of assault.

“It’s not a big deal to me what people think. It doesn’t make a difference in my life. I know what happened. I do not need other people weighing in on what it’s like getting raped at 13,” she told The News.

Geimer said she made peace with what happened by writing her 2013 book, “The Girl: A Life in the Shadow of Roman Polanski.”

She told The News in 2015 that she has forgiven Polanski, 84, for the assault at actor Jack Nicholson’s compound in the Hollywood Hills.

She said the six weeks Polanski served in prison during a court-ordered evaluation before he fled the country on the eve of sentencing in 1978 were enough for her.

“I have forgiven him and moved on,” she told The News. “He pled guilty, served his time, and I’m not quite sure what anyone expects beyond that. That’s satisfactory to me. It should be to everyone.”

Geimer said Tuesday that the Tarantino-penned flick “True Romance” is still one of her favorite movies.

“I like that kind of movie. I like his movies,” Geimer said.