In a new interview, Liam Neeson has revealed that after a female friend of his was allegedly raped, he wanted to “kill” someone the same race as her attacker.
“It was horrible, horrible, when I think back, that I did that,” he told The Independent.
Neeson, who was promoting his new film Cold Pursuit, discussed with the UK outlet the concept of revenge. The 66-year-old actor said he related to the “primal” urge of his character, who avenges the unexpected death of his son.
“God forbid you’ve ever had a member of your family hurt under criminal conditions,” he told the paper before recalling the rape of his close friend. “She handled the situation of the rape in the most extraordinary way,” he said. “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.”
Neeson continued, “I went up and down areas with a cosh [bludgeon], hoping I’d be approached by somebody – I’m ashamed to say that…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.”
Looking back, the Oscar winner said how wrong he was. “It was horrible, horrible, when I think back, that I did that. And I’ve never admitted that, and I’m saying it to a journalist. God forbid,” he said. “It’s awful. But I did learn a lesson from it, when I eventually thought, ‘What the f**k are you doing?’”
Neeson’s comments have caused a heated debate online.
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