Liam Neeson has angered fans with comments he made in a new interview about walking the streets with a club in hopes of killing a “Black bastard,” after a female friend said she was sexually assaulted by a Black man.
The actor made the stunning confession to The Independent, while promoting his new action film Cold Pursuit.
“I went up and down areas with a cosh (a club), hoping I’d be approached by somebody — I’m ashamed to say that — and I did it for maybe a week, hoping some ‘black bastard’ would come out of a pub and have a go at me about something, you know? So that I could kill him,” Neeson told the British newspaper in an article published Monday.
Related: Liam Neeson Addresses Controversial Racial Revenge Comments
The Taken star recalled asking the unidentified woman to describe her attacker.
“My immediate reaction was,” he said before pausing. “I asked, did she know who it was? No. What colour were they? She said it was a Black person.”
Neeson went on to say he became so angry that he wanted revenge.
“There’s something primal — God forbid you’ve ever had a member of your family hurt under criminal conditions,” he stated.
The 66-year-old star said he later became ashamed of his behavior.
“It was horrible, horrible, when I think back, that I did that,” he said. “And I’ve never admitted that, and I’m saying it to a journalist. God forbid.”
The interviewer said Neeson’s co-star, Tom Bateman, was sitting next to him and replied, “Holy shit.”
Neeson told the interviewer he grew up in Northern Ireland during a time of religious tensions and conflict, and is no stranger to revenge.
“I knew a couple of guys that died on hunger strike, and I had acquaintances who were very caught up in the Troubles, and I understand that need for revenge, but it just leads to more revenge, to more killing and more killing, and Northern Ireland’s proof of that,” he said.
The actor, who was born in Northern Ireland, is now facing backlash on social media for his comments, with some fans calling him a “racist,” and others comparing him to a rogue cop.
“Well that’s my love affair with Liam Neeson over with,” one fan tweeted.
Another person wrote, “Yup so Liam Neeson is definitely cancelled.”
Meanwhile, actor and comedian D.L. Hughley tweeted, “Usually when white dudes feel like that they just join the Police Dept!”
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