Actress Rosanna Arquette has criticised Quentin Tarantino's frequent use of the N-word in his 1994 film Pulp Fiction, describing it as 'racist and creepy' in an interview with the Sunday Times. Arquette, who played Jody in the film, acknowledged it as 'iconic' and 'a great film on a lot of levels', but expressed her strong disapproval of the racial slur, saying she 'cannot stand that [Tarantino] has been given a hall pass'.
Tarantino has faced repeated criticism for his liberal use of the term across his filmography. Director Spike Lee previously accused Tarantino of being 'infatuated with that word' in a 1997 Variety interview, questioning whether he wanted to be 'an honorary black man'. However, actor Samuel L Jackson, who starred in Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown, defended Tarantino, stating that the language was not offensive in the context of the films and that Jackie Brown was 'a pretty good black film'.
Following the release of Django Unchained in 2012, Lee again criticised Tarantino on social media, comparing the film's depiction of slavery to a 'Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western' and calling slavery 'a Holocaust'. Director Antoine Fuqua countered by saying he did not believe Tarantino had 'a racist bone in his body'. Tarantino defended himself in a 2015 New York Times interview, rejecting negative interpretations of his motives as making him out to be 'some supervillain'.
In the same Sunday Times interview, Arquette also discussed her refusal of Harvey Weinstein's sexual advances in the early 1990s, claiming her career suffered as a result. She said she was 'fortunate because I was not raped' but that she 'paid a price for saying no' and later 'for telling the truth'. Arquette was among the first to speak out against Weinstein in the 2017 exposés.
