Quentin Tarantino: Timing of Anti-Police Comments 'Unfortunate'

Film director Quentin Tarantino said the timing of his comments calling some police officers murderers was "unfortunate," but he stood by them in his first televised interview since his words have spurred protests from police unions.

"We were at a rally that was dealing with unarmed people, mostly black and brown, who have been shot and killed, or beaten and strangled by the police. And I was obviously referring to the people in those type of situations," Tarantino said Wednesday on MSNBC's "All in With Chris Hayes." 

The families of 40 people killed by police were flown to the New York City rally in October that occurred just days after NYPD officer Randolph Holder was shot to death chasing a robbery suspect.

"That officer's death is a tragedy," Tarantino said, but he said he wasn’t going to tell the families to go home and come another time just because a police officer had just been killed.

Tarantino dismissed police unions who have called on boycotts of his films, including the upcoming "The Hateful Eight."

"I actually have a whole bunch of police officers who are fans of my work, and they're not going to take [NYPD Union President] Patrick Lynch's word on what I said," Tarantino said.

Host Chris Hayes said the "tone" of police union statements don't necessarily reflect all police officers' views.

"There's a sort of tone to police union statements that we've come to expect after these that tend to be maximalist," Hayes told Tarantino. "I mean, how do you have conversations with police officers in the wake of this?"

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