The actress, who appeared in Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction,” previously knocked his use of the slur in his screenplays as “not art, it’s just racist and creepy.”

Quentin Tarantino rips Rosanna Arquette for criticizing his use of N-word in films: ‘A decided lack of class’

The actress, who appeared in Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction," previously knocked his use of the slur in his screenplays as "not art, it's just racist and creepy."

By Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman is a news writer for with previous work in MUBI Notebook, Slant, and the LA Review of Books.

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March 9, 2026 11:20 p.m. ET

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Quentin Tarantino on the set of 'Pulp Fiction' in 1994. Credit:

Miramax Films/Everett

- Quentin Tarantino has responded to Rosanna Arquette after she critiqued his use of the N-word in his films.

- "Dear Rosanna, I hope the publicity you're getting...was worth disrespecting me," he said in a statement shared with EW.

- Arquette previously kicked off the tiff by stating that she would not call his use of the racial epithet "art," but "racist and creepy."

Quentin Tarantino has found himself in another spat with an actor, and he's not trying to lower the heat.

This time it's Rosanna Arquette, who appeared in his classic 1994 crime dramedy *Pulp Fiction*. The actress recently assessed the Cannes winner as a "great film on a lot of levels," but took issue with Tarantino's employment there and elsewhere of the N-word. "It's not art," she reasoned. "It's just racist and creepy."

Tarantino hit back hard on Monday in a statement his publicists shared with *.*

"Dear Rosanna, I hope the publicity you're getting from 132 different media outlets writing your name and printing your picture was worth disrespecting me and a film I remember quite clearly you were thrilled to be a part of?" he wrote. "Do you feel this way now? Very possibly."

Rosanna Arquette in 'Pulp Fiction'.

Miramax/ Everett

Tarantino then claimed that after he "gave you a job, and you took the money, to trash it for what I suspect is very *cynical *reasons, shows a decided lack of class, no less honor."

"There is supposed to be an *esprit de corps* between artistic colleagues," he said. "But it would appear the objective was accomplished.  Congratulations, Q."

Rosanna Arquette slams Daryl Hannah's portrayal on 'the streaming thing' 'Love Story': 'Bulls---'

Paul Dano breaks silence on Quentin Tarantino trashing him

* *has reached out to representatives for Arquette for comment.

Arquette still judges *Pulp Fiction *as "iconic, a great film on a lot of levels... But personally I am over the use of the N-word — I hate it," she noted in her original interview with U.K. outlet *The Times*. She added that she "cannot stand" that Tarantino has, in her view, "has been given a hall pass" with respect to the use of the word.

This is far from the first time Tarantino has been criticized for his use of the racial slur in his films. Those who criticize the amount of violence in his films or their liberal use of the N-word should "see something else," he suggested to CNN's Chris Wallace.

In response, *The Butler *and *The Paperboy *director Lee Daniels, who is Black, remarked, "Quentin, that's not the right answer... 10 years ago, or 15 years ago, I would have checked it off as artistic." But now, he says the harsh pejorative is "our word. That's my word, and you have no right to say that, and you have no right to feel that way."

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Tarantino found himself in hot water with several other actors in December, when on a podcast he called Paul Dano a "weak, uninteresting guy," and said he didn't care for Owen Wilson or Matthew Lillard. Both Lillard and Dano responded, with the *Scooby Doo *star likening the experience of being dragged by Tarantino and then supported by his peers to "living through your own wake."

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