Bruce Lee's Daughter Gracefully Ethers Quentin Tarantino Over Recent Comments
Shannon Lee, Bruce Lee's daughter, addressed recent comments Quentin Tarantino made about the legendary martial artist in a column.
Following recent comments Quentin Tarantino made about Bruce Lee during an appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience, the late martial artist's daughter, Shannon Lee, has written a column addressing those comments, as well as her previous criticism of her father's portrayal in Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood movie.
During his Joe Rogan appearance, Tarantino spoke on the controversy he faced for how Lee is depicted in the 2019 film, saying "Where I’m coming from is…I can understand his daughter having a problem with it, it’s her f**king father! I get that," before going on to say that anyone else who had something to say about how Lee was portrayed could "Go suck a d**k."
"...while I am grateful that Mr. Tarantino has so generously acknowledged to Joe Rogan that I may have my feelings about his portrayal of my father, I am also grateful for the opportunity to express this: I’m really fucking tired of white men in Hollywood trying to tell me who Bruce Lee was," Shannon wrote in a column for The Hollywood Reporter titled, "Does Quentin Tarantino Hate Bruce Lee? Or Does It Just Help Sell Books?"
Elsewhere in the column, Shannon also addressed other comments Tarantino made with Rogan, including that Lee was tricked by the fictitious Hollywood character Cliff Booth during their fight.
"The fact that Mr. Tarantino espouses that my father could have been easily tricked by a fictitious character and would only really be a threat in a competition setting like Madison Square Garden speaks volumes about everything he does not know about Bruce Lee and [Jeet Kune Do]," Shannon wrote, before ending her column connecting Tarantino's mischaracterization of her father with the violence Asian Americans are facing in the United States.
"In closing, at a time when Asian Americans are being physically attacked, told to 'go home' because they are seen as not American, and demonized for something that has nothing to do with them, I feel moved to suggest that Mr. Tarantino’s continued attacks, mischaracterizations and misrepresentations of a trailblazing and innovative member of our Asian American community, right now, are not welcome," she wrote.
"...I would encourage you to take a pass on commenting further about Bruce Lee and reconsider the impact of your words in a world that doesn’t need more conflict and fewer cultural heroes," she continued. "Under the sky, under the heavens, we are one family, Mr. Tarantino, and I think it’s time for both of us to walk on."