Actor Liam Neeson expressed regret in a shocking interview for the “horrible” thoughts he had about wanting to kill a black person after a friend was raped.
In an interview with The Independent, Liam Neeson revealed that when he was younger, a female friend of his was raped by who she said was a black man, which led to Neeson having violent, racist thoughts about killing a “black bastard” as a result.
It was some time ago. Neeson had just come back from overseas to find out about the rape. “She handled the situation of the rape in the most extraordinary way,” Neeson says. “But my immediate reaction was…” There’s a pause. “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 bastard’ would come out of a pub and have a go at me about something, you know? So that I could,” another pause, “kill him.”
Neeson clearly knows what he’s saying, and how shocking it is, how appalling. “It took me a week, maybe a week and a half, to go through that. She would say, ‘Where are you going?’ and I would say, ‘I’m just going out for a walk.’ You know? ‘What’s wrong?’ ‘No no, nothing’s wrong.’”
The Star Wars actor said that the thoughts were “awful” and “horrible, horrible, when I think back.”
The 66-year-old actor is currently promoting his latest action thriller Cold Pursuit. His comments in the interview have already caused fury and confusion on social media.
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