Playboy in Germany said Tuesday that some of the quotes in that controversial interview with Ennio Morricone — the one in which the fabled Italian composer allegedly described Quentin Tarantino as a “cretin” — have been “reproduced incorrectly.” Morricone quickly called the Tarantino remarks bullshit. The magazine initially stood by the article — now they’re waffling.

German Playboy is reportedly blaming the writer, Marcel Anders, for the errors. The magazine also apologized to Morricone.

“Up to now, we have considered the freelancer who conducted the Ennio Morricone interview on our behalf to be a renowned print and radio journalist,” German Playboy editor-in-chief Florian Boitin said in a statement. “In the past, we have had no reason to doubt his journalistic integrity and skills. Based on the information now at our disposal, we must unfortunately assume that the words spoken in the interview have, in part, been reproduced incorrectly.”

This morning I asked a Munich-based journalist friend if he could shed any light or tell me what’s really going on.

“I couldn’t tell you,” he replied. “I’ve been reading Marcel for years, but I don’t know him personally. He’s only covering music, to the best of my knowledge. I’ve never heard any complaints about him, and he is writing for one of the magazines I’m contributing to.

“This is a very awkward story. Especially since in Germany almost no interview gets published without authorization. I’m not really sure if the magazine did its homework in ascertaining those quotes were legit. Then again I don’t know the whole story.

“A few years ago the publishing house, Burda, was involved in a lawsuit with Tom Cruise about incorrect quotes. A different magazine though.”