Award-winning writer and director Quentin Tarantino is known for his sprawling dramas that are often filled with gratuitous amounts of violence and offensive language. While Tarantino has been celebrated by many as a genius, others take issue with his excessive use of the N-word in many of his films.
From Jackie Brown to Django Unchained, Tarantino’s use of the N-word has come under scrutiny for years. Director Spike Lee once accused him of being “infatuated” with the word, which has been used heavily in many of Tarantino’s films. And Denzel Washington once confronted Tarantino after he added the N-word to the script of Crimson Tide (the director was an uncredited writer of the script).
In spite of the criticism, Tarantino continues to throw the word in his films, and Django Unchained star Jamie Foxx, said he understands.
In an interview with Yahoo! Entertainment, Foxx defended Tarantino’s use of the word in the slavery-revenge drama because he said it was consistent with the film’s setting in the Antebellum South.
“I understood the text. The N-word was said 100 times, but I understood the text — that’s the way it was back in that time.” Foxx said.
The Academy Award winner also praised Tarantino’s directing style.
“Working with Quentin Tarantino is the best. Because he’s like a jazz musician. He just plays. And he has incredible disciplines,” Foxx added. “He says, ‘I only shoot with one camera. I’m a director, not a video selector.’ So everything he shoots is one camera, it’s lean.”
Tarantino has addressed the criticism over his use of the N-word in the past by claiming that by using the word so much in his films he was taking away the power and vulgarity associated with the word.
“My feeling is the word ‘nigger’ is probably the most volatile word in the English language,” the director explained. He also once claimed he was “a Black slave in America” in a former life.
“The minute any word has that much power, as far as I’m concerned, everyone on the planet should scream it,” he continued. “No word deserves that much power. I’m not afraid of it. That’s the only way I know how to explain it.”