Comments mean Neeson’s revenge thriller ends up as an offensive farce
LIAM Neeson’s denial he is a racist after admitting he once went looking for a “black b ***** d” to kill after a close friend was raped by a black man raised more questions then it answered.
The Hollywood star appeared on American television as the backlash continued over his comments, but he pointedly issued no apology.
During an interview to promote his latest film he recounted how, to channel the emotions necessary to play his vengeful character, he tapped into those he felt after a friend of his was raped 40 years ago.
He told how he went into black communities looking for a black man to challenge him which would allow him, he said, to lash out.
“I went up and down areas with a cosh, hoping I’d be… approached by somebody,” he revealed.
“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 ****** ’ would come out of a pub and have a go at me about something, you know? So that I could kill him.”
In the immediate furore, Neeson, 66, took to Good Morning America to try and defuse the anger.
When asked if it was just the man’s race he asked his friend about he said he also quizzed her about the attacker’s size.
He then said: “If she had said he was Irish or Scot or a Brit or a Lithuanian, I know it would have had the same effect.”
Was he assuming Irish, Scots, Brits and Lithuanians cannot be black?
Sometimes in life, people need to know when to stop digging?
In Neeson’s case, he needs to put the shovel down and apologise.