AmazonDjango Unchained's characters have been whacked—and we're not just talking about the bludgeoned, bloodied, bullet-blasted baddies in the movie.
A line of action figures based on the controversial Quentin Tarantino slave-themed movie has been jettisoned in the wake of a slew of protests over the toy line's inappropriateness, the studio behind the movie, The Weinstein Company, confirms to E! News.
Among the most vocal opponents? The Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network, which slammed it earlier this month and called for a national boycott of the toy line.
"Selling this doll is highly offensive to our ancestors and the African American community," the organization said.
Consider it the latest ding for a movie already banged up from some pretty high-profile swipes.
Last month, Spike Lee castigated the film—which includes a cheeky scene involving Ku Klux Klan members as well as a barrage of racial slurs—in a scathing tweet, writing, "American Slavery Was Not A Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western. It Was A Holocaust. My Ancestors Are Slaves. Stolen From Africa. I Will Honor Them."
And Tarantino himself seems to have had enough. When a reporter prodded him to weigh in on the connection between onscreen and real-life violence, the irate auteur promptly shut down the interview.
At least he's got supporters: Fans like 2 Live Crew's Luther Campbell and Django costar Samuel L. Jackson have come to Tarantino's defense. And in the biggest vote of confidence yet, the film nabbed five Oscar nominations, including Best Picture.
Action-figure line or not, the Academy wasn't toying around with its kudos.