Under-fire director Quentin Tarantino has dismissed claims that he is a “cop hater” and fired back at the ringleaders of the proposed boycotts of his movies, nearly a fortnight after he attended an anti-police violence rally in New York City.

In a frank interview with the LA Times on Wednesday (November 4th), the director denied the accusations levelled against him by police unions. “I'm not being intimidated. Frankly, it feels lousy to have a bunch of police mouthpieces call me a cop hater. I'm not a cop hater. That is a misrepresentation. That is slanderous. That is not how I feel.”

Quentin TarantinoQuentin Tarantino tried to clear up his remarks about police violence

The 52 year old auteur, whose movies include Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs and Kill Bill, continued: “All cops are not murderers. I never said that. I never even implied that. What I said was the truth. I'm used to people misrepresenting me; I'm used to being misunderstood.”

More: We’re shivering in excitement for Tarantino’s Winter Western ‘The Hateful Eight’ [pictures + trailer]

Last month, Tarantino appeared at a rally in New York organised by RiseUp October which sought to highlight police violence against non-white persons. He addressed the crowd at Washington Square Park, saying: “When I see murders, I do not stand by… I have to call a murder a murder, and I have to call the murderers the murderers.”

Unfortunately, this all came less than a week after an NYPD officer, Randolph Holder, had been killed while on duty in East Harlem. Patrick Lynch, president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association in the city, blasted him for his comments and called on other police associations to boycott Tarantino’s movie – his next release being The Hateful Eight in December.

However, Tarantino sought to clear this up, saying: “It’s like this: it’s unfortunate timing, but we’ve flown in all these families to go and tell their stories… That cop that was killed, that’s a tragedy, too.”

Tarantino also announced that he also wanted to discuss the issue live on national television with MSNBC's Chris Hayes, which is due to go out on Wednesday evening 8pm E.T.

More: Two more unions join in boycott of Quentin Tarantino movies

Watch the trailer for The Hateful Eight here