With police unions calling for a boycott of the films of Quentin Tarantino, the award-winning director is refusing to back down from his criticism of police brutality. Actor Viggo Mortensen, defending Tarantino in a “Democracy Now!” interview, says, “You have to speak up.”

From “Democracy Now!”:

Tarantino sparked controversy after he called fatal police shootings “murders” during the Rise Up October rally against police brutality in New York City on October 24. Tarantino’s comments have come under intense criticism, with several major police unions calling for a boycott of his films. “[Tarantino] clearly saw what anybody with eyes in their head could see,” says Academy Award-nominated actor Viggo Mortensen. “What’s more troubling is … the tacit condoning of these abuses of power by certain police officers by their bosses, by people who should know better.” Mortensen also looks back on his own brush with a right-wing political backlash, after he famously wore a T-shirt on the PBS show Charlie Rose that said “No more blood for oil.”

–Posted by Roisin Davis