Roman Polanski
Roman Polanksi's rape survivor responded to the recently resurfaced Howard Stern interview in which Quentin Tarantino defended the actions of the disgraced French-Polish film director.
In the interview, Tarantino characterized the survivor as a "13-year-old party girl" who "was down with to party with Roman." In reality, she was drugged and raped by the then 43-year-old Polanksi. Tarantino even went as far as to claim that, "She’s talked about it since, about, 'No, he didn’t really do anything to me, it was a technicality from being 13.'"
But the now 54-year-old Samantha Geimer doesn't need Tarantino to put words in her mouth and is perfectly capable of speaking for herself.
Samantha Geimer
"He was wrong. I bet he knows it," she said in an interview with New York Daily News. "I hope he doesn't make an ass of himself and keep talking that way."
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"He is obviously incorrect. Hopefully by now he knows that it didn't happen that way."
It is true that Geimer has proven to be extremely forgiving about the ordeal — which is what Tarantino might've confused for an admission that she "wanted it" or that Polanski was innocent. Because for many years, Geimer's maintained that she now forgives Polanski and has put the whole event behind her by writing the 2013 book The Girl: A Life in the Shadow of Roman Polanski.
In a recent interview with Piers Morgan, Geimer even said that what the media put her through at the time was much more traumatizing than what happened with Polanski.
Today, she's also willing to forgive Tarantino. "I'm not upset, but I would probably feel better if he realizes now that he was wrong ... after hearing the facts," she said. Geimer still even considers herself a big fan of Tarantino's work, calling True Romance one of her favorite films of all time.
Importantly, Geimer asserted that, "Nobody has to be pissed off on my behalf. I'm okay."
Quentin Tarantino
That may feel counterintuitive to well-meaning people who want to see Tarantino suffer some sort of consequences for his comments. But if the intention is to respect the wishes of rape survivors, then we should not fault them for not acting the way we think survivors "should" act.
Regardless, Geimer said, "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."
In an apt summary of every new revelation brought to light by the #MeToo movement in Hollywood, Geimer said that, "Being a celebrity doesn't make you a great guy."