Liam Neeson Says He Looked For A Black Man To Kill After A Friend's Rape
OS ANGELES (CBSLA) – In a shocking interview published Monday, renowned actor Liam Neeson said he once walked the streets looking for a black man to kill as revenge for the sexual assault of a friend. In the interview with the British newspaper The Independent, promoting his new film 'Cold Pursuit,' the Northern Irish star said "some time ago" he came home from an international trip to learn that his friend had been raped.
"I asked, did she know who it was? No. What color were they? She said it was a black person."
A then enraged Neeson said he spent about a week walking the streets with a heavy stick looking for any "black b——" that he could "kill."
"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 bastard would come out of a pub and have a go at me about something, you know? So that I could kill him," Neeson told The Independent.
"It was horrible, horrible, when I think back, that I did that," Neeson added. "And I've never admitted that, and I'm saying it to a journalist. God forbid."
Neeson went on to say that growing up in Northern Ireland during a tumultuous time may have contributed to his anger.
"I come from a society – I grew up in Northern Ireland in the Troubles – and, you know, I knew a couple of guys that died on hunger strike, and I had acquaintances who were very caught up in the Troubles, and I understand that need for revenge, but it just leads to more revenge, to more killing and more killing, and Northern Ireland's proof of that. All this stuff that's happening in the world, the violence, is proof of that, you know. But that primal need, I understand."
Neeson's back catalog includes "Schindler's List," "Taken" and "Love Actually."
