Quentin Tarantino Tells Critics Of ‘Racist’ Bruce Lee Scene To ‘Suck A D*ck’

Quentin Tarantino appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast where he discussed the novelisation of his film Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.

When Once Upon A Time In Hollywood was released, it received criticism for its depiction of Bruce Lee. Lee’s daughter, Shannon Lee, said that the film made her late father look ‘arrogant’.

I feel like he [Tarantino] turned his [Bruce Lee’s] confidence into arrogance and his intelligence into mockery. I feel like he was picked on in the way that he was picked on in life by white Hollywood.

Her comments have been supported by friends of Lee such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who said the scene was disrespectful.

Tarantino reaffirmed that Cliff wouldn’t ‘stand a chance’ in hand to hand combat, but said the character tricked the martial artist. He also used a biography to defend the depiction of Lee’s arrogant personality. Tarantino noted that Lee’s arrogance is highlighted ‘in Matthew Polly’s book [Bruce Lee: A Life] and it’s always been known. That’s why Gene Labelle was brought in, to teach Bruce respect for American stuntmen’.

Tarantino went on to make some significant claims on the back of the biography, saying:

Bruce had no respect for American stuntmen, he was always hitting them with his feet. It’s called tagging when you hit a stuntman for real. He was always tagging them with his feet and his fist and it got to the point where they would refuse to work with Bruce.

He had nothing but disrespect for American stuntmen. It was probably just like, ‘Oh they’re just not good enough. They are pussies. I want to make it look real!’ But stuntmen don’t like that.

In the most bizarre part of the discussion, Tarantino claimed that he knew Lee’s ‘spiritual sifu stuff was just a side gig’, and compared the legendary martial artist to Charles Manson because of how he used networking as a means to an end.