Liam Neeson was branded a racist who should be banned from the Oscars after speaking for the first time about his extreme reaction when he learned a loved one had allegedly been raped while he was overseas.
During an interview with the Independent to promote his new film Cold Pursuit, the actor, 66, described how he walked the streets looking for a ‘black b*****d’ to kill in a misguided attempt at revenge.
He said that after coming home from an overseas trip years ago he was told a loved one, who he does not name, had been raped.
Liam said: ‘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 colour were they? She said it was a black person.
‘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 ‘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.’
He went on: ‘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 admitted it was a ‘horrible’ time and he’s learned a valuable lesson from his ‘awful’ reaction. He added that growing up in Northern Ireland during the Troubles has given him insight into the ‘primal need for revenge’ and how destructive that can be.
Then Twitter had at him:
