Update 07/06/2021 1:27pm:

Bruce Lee's daughter Shannon penned a letter that was published on The Hollywood Reporter, where she vented her frustration about the way white men, most recently Quentin Tarantino, in Hollywood have portrayed her legendary father. 

Shannon wrote, "As you already know, the portrayal of Bruce Lee in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood by Mr. Tarantino, in my opinion, was inaccurate and unnecessary to say the least. (Please let’s not blame actor Mike Moh. He did what he could with what he was given.) And 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 f**ing tired of white men in Hollywood trying to tell me who Bruce Lee was." 

She continued, "I’m tired of hearing from white men in Hollywood that he was arrogant and an asshole 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." 

Shannon was referring to Tarantino's recent interview with Joe Rogan, where he stated, "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. But anybody else? Go suck a d**k." 

Source: The Hollywood Reporter 

Original 06/30/2021 1:21pm:

Quentin Tarantino addressed the controversy surrounding his 2019 film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, during an appearance on Joe Rogan's podcast.

Many viewers took issue with the way Bruce Lee was portrayed in the film. In the scene, the Bruce Lee character fights a stuntman, played by Brad Pitt, and fails to come out victorious as most would expect.

Aside from the fighting, the late martial artist's fans and family criticized the film for the way they portrayed Lee's personality. Bruce Lee's daughter, Shannon Lee, said Tarantino characterized her father "as an arrogant a**hole who was full of hot air," while Lee's widow said the film made her husband "look stupid, and silly and made to be insulting 'Chinesey.'"

The legendary film director responded to the criticism by acknowledging the bias Lee's family will have concerning anything related to the late martial artist's legacy. However, Tarantino was far more dismissive of anyone else's criticism.

"Where I'm coming from is...I can understand his daughter having a problem with it, it's her f****** father! I get that," Tarantino responded. "But anybody else? Go suck a d***. And the thing about it, though, is even if you just look at it, it's obvious [Brad Pitt's character] Cliff tricked him. That's how he was able to do it, he tricked him."

When speaking about the way Bruce Lee's personality was depicted, Tarantino echoed Mike Moh's (the actor who played Bruce Lee in the film) sentiments that Lee had a reputation in Hollywood as an arrogant person. He also suggested that the scene was inspired by stuntman Gene LeBell's long-rumored fight with Bruce Lee on the set of The Green Hornet. 

"The stuntmen hated Bruce on The Green Hornet," Tarantino added. "It's in [martial artist biographer] Matthew Polly's book, and before that, it's always been known. That's why Gene LeBell was brought on, to teach Bruce respect for American stuntmen. Bruce had nothing but disrespect for stuntmen, and he was always hitting them...It got to the point where [people] refused to work with him."

After speaking more about the way stuntmen felt about Bruce Lee, Tarantino explained why Brad Pitt's character would stand a chance against Bruce Lee in a real fight.

"If Cliff fought Bruce Lee at one of [martial artist] Aaron Banks'  Madison Square Garden tournaments, Cliff wouldn't stand a chance against [him]. But as a killer, who has killed men before in a jungle, he'd kill Bruce Lee. He'd f****** kill him," Tarantino claimed. "Bruce Lee is not a killer. Bruce Lee's never really let loose on anybody, he's always had to keep it together in a martial artists tournament kind of way. If he's facing a guy who could actually kill him? It's a different story."