Bruce Lee’s daughter slams Tarantino, says she’s tired of ‘white men’ calling her father ‘arrogant’

By PTI

LOS ANGELES: Bruce Lee’s daughter Shannon Lee has slammed filmmaker Quentin Tarantino after he dismissed the criticism of his depiction of the martial arts legend in his movie “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”.

Tarantino’s impression of Bruce Lee was condemned by Shannon Lee and fans across the globe for showing the late actor as an arrogant figure who loses a fight against the ageing stuntman Cliff Booth, played by Brad Pitt, in the 2019 film. American-Korean actor Mike Moh essayed the role of Bruce Lee in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”.

During a recent appearance on “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast, Tarantino once again defended his interpretation of Bruce Lee, saying while he understands Shannon Lee’s previous criticism, he doesn’t care about others.

Following his remarks, in a guest column for The Hollywood Reporter, Shannon Lee urged Tarantino to “take a pass on commenting further” about her father and expressed frustration with “white men in Hollywood trying to tell me who Bruce Lee was.”

“I’m tired of hearing from white men in Hollywood that he was arrogant and an a*****. When they have no idea and cannot fathom what it might have taken to get work in 1960s and ’70s Hollywood as a Chinese man with (God forbid) an accent, or to try to express an opinion on a set as a perceived foreigner and person of color.  I’m tired of white men in Hollywood mistaking his confidence, passion, and skill for hubris and therefore finding it necessary to marginalize him and his contributions. I’m tired of white men in Hollywood finding it too challenging to believe that Bruce Lee might have really been good at what he did and maybe even knew how to do it better than them,” she wrote.

In his interview with Rogan, Tarantino also claimed that Bruce Lee had “nothing but disrespect for stuntmen”.

“He was always hitting them with his feet, he was always tagging- it’s called tagging when you hit a stuntman for real,” said the director.

“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”, also featured actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Margot Robbie.

The film was nominated in 10 categories at the 92nd Academy Award and led to Pitt winning his first Oscar trophy in best supporting actor category.

The movie, billed as a love letter to the golden age of Hollywood, also bagged an Oscar for best production design.