In an interview with the Independent intended to promote his new movie Cold Pursuit, actor Liam Neeson instead dropped a racist, rape-related bombshell from his past.
The 66-year-old Northern Irish star told the publication that he had once been tempted to go on a murderous rampage against black people after discovering that a friend had been raped.
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“She said it was a black person,” Neeson claimed, which led the actor to seek out any black man for revenge.
“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 [uses air quotes with fingers] ‘black bastard’ would come out of a pub and have a go at me about something, you know? So that I could kill him,” he admitted to the Independent.
The comments attracted derision and criticism from the internet, and Neeson began trending on Twitter shortly after the interview went public.
Many were amazed that someone would blatantly confess that he considered committing a hate crime, in the middle of a movie promo.
Liam Neeson's Publicist: you ready?
— chev
Liam Neeson: yep, hi guys i'm liam neeson and i wanted to kill a black guy, not even the perpetrator of the crime, just any black guy
Liam Neeson's Publicist: pic.twitter.com/vLFoACGNKh(@buttmerogers) February 4, 2019
However, the seriousness of the admission was not lost on everyone. A number of socio-political debates were also addressed.
Kevin Hart is out here losing gigs, & being made to apologize over JOKES he made on twitter a decade ago….
— Tariq Nasheed
But Liam Neeson actually went out LOOKING FOR A BLACK PERSON TO KILL, & ppl are on here talking about "that was long ago" and "he found moral strength to get over racism" pic.twitter.com/gaUhclVX4S(@tariqnasheed) February 4, 2019
There has been no official comment from Neeson since the news broke.
Feature image: Georges Biard via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0, enlarged)
