Filmmaker says actor’s revenge revelation is ‘bad all around’

FILMMAKER Spike Lee has criticised Liam Neeson over his controversial rape revenge remarks. The Malcolm X director spoke out ahead of the Baftas, where his film BlacKkKlansman won Best Adapted Screenplay. Neeson sparked outrage by saying he once had violent thoughts about killing a black person after someone close to him was raped. Asked if he was angry about Neeson’s remarks, Lee told The Andrew Marr Show: “Oh yeah, I don’t understand what he was doing. It’s a crazy, crazy bizarre world we live in. BY SHERNA NOAH don’t think I’ll be going back to him. He’s too old now. That was a long time ago. It’s bad all around.

“I heard he was promoting his new movie about revenge. I know he is Catholic. Was this a form of confession? I don’t know, you’d have to ask him.”

Lee added: “People have to understand history. The Ku Klux Klan was formed to ‘save’ white, Southern womanhood.

“Who knows how many innocent black men have been murdered, castrated, lynched or harmed or spent time in jail only because a white woman said, ‘That black man raped me’.”

BlacKkKlansman, which has also been nominated for six Oscars, tells the story of an undercover black police officer who infiltrates the Ku Klux Klan.

Neeson recently cancelled an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert amid the controversy. The actor, 66, had been due to appear on the US chat show to promote film Cold Pursuit.