Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Liam Neeson’s views on ‘racial profiling’ resurface amid row
LIAM Neeson admitted to “racial profiling” in an interview five years before his controversial comments on once wanting to kill a black man.
The Taken star was promoting his 2014 film Non-stop, in which he played a US air marshal tasked with finding a killer on a flight to London.
Neeson, 66, was discussing the plot of the film with co-star Julianne Moore when he said “we all racial profile” – suspecting someone of an offence based on their race alone.
The actor said: “We all racial profile. It’s a horrible thing to admit to do but we all do it. I know I do it. I’m used to it because I’m a child of Northern Ireland and 1970 onwards, any flight over to England, I’d be travelling on my own.
“I had hair down to here, single Irish guy, I was always pulled over.”
He added: “I don’t think it affected me. I understood it. It wasn’t Swedish grandmothers doing all of this stuff.”
The interview resurfaced after Neeson sparked outrage this week with comments he made during a press junket for his latest revenge thriller Cold Pursuit. He admitted he carried a weapon with him decades ago after learning his friend had been raped by a black man.
The star 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 [gesturing air quotes with his fingers] ‘black b ***** d’ would come out of a pub and have a go at me about something, you know? So that I could… kill him.”