Golden Globes Backstage 2013: Quentin Tarantino Drops the N-Word

Django Unchained winner does his thing while addressing question about controversial slavery-era spaghetti Western

By Joal Ryan Jan 14, 2013 4:21 AMTags
Quentin TarantinoPaul Drinkwater/NBC

Quentin Tarantino was nothing if not Quentin Tarantino.

Less than a minute into his press conference backstage at the 70th Annual Golden Globes, the Django Unchained winner dropped the N-word. The usually bustling press room fell silent for a second; a reporter could be heard letting out a whistle, as in, "Oh, boy."

The filmmaker's choice language came as he fieldied a question about his controversial, slavery-era spaghetti Western. Tarantino was not apologizing.

Critics who think the N-word should not have been spoken by his 19th century characters, the mile-a-minute Tarantino argued, are "saying I should massage. They're saying I should whitewash. They're saying I should lie."

Don Cheadle, a winner for House of Lies, who took the stage right after Tarantino, couldn't resist picking up the thread.

"Please no [N-word] questions," Cheadle told reporters. "Black people questions are all right."

For the record, Cheadle said he hadn't seen Django, but was looking forward to checking it out.