Liam Neeson facing backlash over shocking ‘racist’ admission - NEWS.com.au

Liam Neeson has revealed his shame after once walking the streets looking for a “black b******” to kill when a family member was raped.

The Sun reports that the Irish actor, 66, has been branded “racist” by fans amid a massive backlash online after sharing the shocking story during a press junket for his new film Cold Pursuit.

“She handled the situation of the rape in the most extraordinary way,” Neeson said during the interview with the Independent. “But my immediate reaction was I asked, did she know who it was? No.

“What colour were they? She said it was a black person.

“I went up and down areas with a cosh, hoping I’d be … approached by somebody.

“I’m ashamed to say that, and I did it for maybe a week — hoping some [Neeson gestures air quotes with his fingers] ‘black b******’ would come out of a pub and have a go at me about something, you know? So that I could kill him.”

A cosh is a heavy stick or bar like a baseball bat that’s used as a weapon.

Neeson said his behaviour was “awful” but it took him over a week to calm down.

“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.”

He added: “It’s awful. But I did learn a lesson from it, when I eventually thought, ‘What the f*** are you doing’, you know?”

Neeson has been branded “racist” after his comments about going after any black person after the rape, with the journalist also slammed for providing psychological context to the actor’s reaction in the article.

In the interview, Neeson added: “I understand that need for revenge, but it just leads to more revenge, to more killing and more killing.”

The actor shared the personal story after his Cold Pursuit character Nels Coxman goes on a journey to kill.

The film follows the snowplow driver seeking revenge against the drug dealers he thinks killed his son.

“I think audience members live to see that,” he said about on-screen violence.

“They can kind of live vicariously through it. People say, ‘Yeah but violence in films makes people want to go out and kill people.’ I don’t believe that at all.

“I think the average moviegoer thinks, ‘Yeah, punch him. Punch him.’ And they get a satisfaction out of seeing somebody else enact it, and they leave the theatre and they feel satiated in some way.”

This story originally appeared in The Sun and is republished here with permission

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