Quentin Tarantino has apologised for defending disgraced filmmaker Roman Polanski. 

The Kill Bill director recently made headlines after a video clip of him arguing Polanski didn't rape a 13-year-old model resurfaced.

"He had sex with a minor," Tarantino said during the 2003 Howard Stern interview. "That's not rape. To me, when you use the word rape, you're talking about violent, throwing them down - it's like one of the most violent crimes in the world. You can't throw the word rape around." 

Polanski's victim, Samantha Geimer, chose to hit back. The now 53-year-old Hawaii resident said Tarantino was misinformed. 

"He was wrong," she said. "I bet he knows it. I hope he doesn't make an arse of himself and keep talking that way." 

On Wednesday, US time, Tarantino decided to call Geimer and apologise. He also issued a statement to Indiewire apologising for his past comments. 

"I want to publicly apologise to Samantha Geimer for my cavalier remarks on The Howard Stern Show speculating about her and the crime that was committed against her," he said. "Fifteeen years later, I realise how wrong I was.

"Ms Geimer was raped by Roman Polanski. When Howard brought up Polanski, I incorrectly played devil's advocate in the debate for the sake of being provocative. I didn't take Ms Geimer's feelings into consideration and for that I am truly sorry.

"Ms Geimer, I was ignorant and insensitive and, above all, incorrect. I am sorry."

Tarantino has been in the spotlight in recent weeks thanks to his connections to former Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein and his treatment of Uma Thurman before and after a near-fatal car crash on the set of Kill Bill.