Neeson pulls out of chat show as ‘race’ row runs on

LIAM Neeson has reportedly cancelled his appearance on a leading US chat show as the fallout from his comments about searching for a black man to kill continues.

Tonight’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was to feature the star of the new film Cold Pursuit but Glenn Close will appear instead.

The backlash began after Britain’s Independent news website published an interview in which he was asked about his character’s search for revenge.

Mr Neeson, 66, answered by recounting how the rape of someone close to him led him to seek revenge.

He said: ‘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 [making 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.’

The Ballymena actor did not apologise for his comments but said he had confessed to a priest about his ‘medieval’ urges. He said he hoped his honesty about his ‘primal’ feelings will prompt others to ‘open up’ in a society bound by political correctness.

Mr Neeson told Good Morning America: ‘I’m not racist. This was nearly 40 years ago but because I was brought up in the north of Ireland, I was brought up in the Troubles in the 60s, 70s and early 80s. The bigotry... I grew up surrounded by that. But I was never part of it.

‘If she [the victim] had said Irish or Scot or a Brit or a Lithuanian, I know it would have had the same effect.’