Liam Neeson has landed himself in one of the most bizarre controversies of 2019, right after Virginia Governor Ralph Northam.
The Taken actor has left many speechless and has been dubbed as a racist after he confessed that he had plans to kill a random black person to avenge the rape of a close family member.
The 66-year-old actor sat down with The Independent where he recalled the disturbing story.
While he did not reveal the identity of the female relative who was sexually assaulted, Liam explained that the rapist was black.
He said: “There’s something primal – God forbid you’ve ever had a member of your family hurt under criminal conditions. I’ll tell you a story. This is true. She handled the situation of the rape in the most extraordinary way. But my immediate reaction was…I asked, did she know who it was? No. What color were they? She said it was a black person.”
For one week, Liam walked around with a cosh, (slang for a thick heavy stick or bar used as a weapon), to kill a black man.
He added: “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*stard’ would come out of a pub and have a go at me about something, you know? So that I could…kill him.”
He continued: “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.’”
He went on to say that he did come to his senses and dropped the horrible plan.
The critically-acclaimed movie star explained: “It’s awful. But I did learn a lesson from it, when I eventually thought, ‘What the f@ck are you doing,’ you know? I come from a society – I grew up in Northern Ireland in the Troubles – and, you know, 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. All this stuff that’s happening in the world, the violence, is proof of that, you know. But that primal need, I understand.”
One person reacted to the story by saying: “The craziest part of that Liam Neeson stuff is that it was voluntarily revealed by…Liam Neeson.”
Another commenter stated: “Liam Neeson has been canceled effective immediately. Black History Month is really popping off early, wow. ”
A third comment read: “I know this isn’t really the point, but 5 seconds into that Liam Neeson anecdote and, as a publicist, I’m hitting the fire alarm. Sprinklers on, everyone evacuates.”
During an interview with Good Morning Americas Robin Roberts Neeson tried to defend the comments, he explained: “I never felt this before, which was a primal urge to lash out. I asked her, ‘Did you know the person? It was a man? His race?’ She said he was a black man. I thought, ‘Ok.’ After that, there were some nights I went out deliberately into black areas in this city, looking to be set upon so that I could unleash physical violence. I did it for maybe four or five times. It really shocked me, this primal urge I had. It shocked me and it hurt me. I did seek help. I went to a priest. I had two very good friends I talked to, and believe it or not — power walking — to get rid of this.”
Despite this attempt to clean up, the backlash continued and the actor canceled an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert that was set for Friday.
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