Liam Neeson is currently promoting Cold Pursuit, his latest “revenge movie,” wherein he plays a character who goes on some kind of violent killing spree after someone close to him is killed or hurt or kidnapped. It’s a whole genre and Liam has been riding it hard for a decade. It’s weird that it’s only now, after doing a dozen of these kinds of revenge movies, that he’s only decided at this moment to reveal his own brush with real-life revenge violence. Liam was doing a junket interview with The Independent and he shared a terrible story about how, when he was much younger, he spent days hunting for any black man to hurt or maim or kill. I sh-t you not.
“There’s something primal – God forbid you’ve ever had a member of your family hurt under criminal conditions,” he begins, hesitantly but thoughtfully. “I’ll tell you a story. This is true.” It was some time ago. Neeson had just come back from overseas to find out about the rape. “She handled the situation of the rape in the most extraordinary way,” Neeson says. “But my immediate reaction was…” There’s a pause. “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 [Neeson gestures air quotes with his fingers] ‘black bastard’ would come out of a pub and have a go at me about something, you know? So that I could,” another pause, “kill him.”
Neeson clearly knows what he’s saying, and how shocking it is, how appalling. “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 deliberately withholds details to protect the identity of the victim. “It was horrible, horrible, when I think back, that I did that,” he says. “And I’ve never admitted that, and I’m saying it to a journalist. God forbid.”
“It’s awful,” Neeson continues, a tremble in his breath. “But I did learn a lesson from it, when I eventually thought, ‘What the f–k are you doing,’ you know? 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.”
There are several levels of discomfort and awfulness. One is that… even now, Liam seems to think this story is just about how awful it is that he was so bloody-thirsty and hungry for revenge in general, not that he was also being racist AF? Two, of course it begs the question… would he have been so blood-thirsty if the rapist was a white guy? Would Liam have gone out every night and hunted for any random white dude to kill? I guess I should note that in Liam’s telling, nothing ever came of it and it’s difficult to get completely upset about someone merely *thinking* about racist revenge violence. But it’s still appalling. And it’s strange that he tells this story in this way and doesn’t really offer better context? I don’t know.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Awful all around!
Tell me about it. So he restrained himself from going out and killing the first innocent black man he saw. What the hell does he want, a medal? I’m done with this guy.
This kind of mindset has resulted in hundreds of innocent black men hanging from trees.
This, this this.
Hollywood is so out of touch that they think it is ok to tell smth awful like this and people won’t be shocked.
No kidding. I’d say he should have kept this anecdote to himself but it’s good that he unloaded so we know to cancel him forever.
What bothers me (besides ALL of this!) is that his *second* question, right after asking if his loved one was ok, was “WHAT COLOR WAS HE”?? WTF??? I don’t understand how THAT would even come into his mind, if he didn’t have a racist mindset to begin with. (Was/is racism really that bad in Ireland? I thought The Troubles were about religious differences, and for a united Ireland (over British presence)). After I was badly hurt in a car accident, NO ONE in my family, or my friends asked, “What color was the other driver who cut you off??” Who, besides real hard core racists, thinks that way?
This is just crazy! WHY would he even bring this up now, in an interview? I guess what bothers me MOST is that he still doesn’t see it as problematic. All he sees is his ANGER was wrong, not the racism part.
Damn, Liam, I don’t know if I can ever see you the same way again…. I think you just ruined “Love Actually” for me this Christmas!
@jan90067 I’m not going to deny that Ireland has racist elements for sure, but no worse than the US or the UK. I really wish he hadn’t linked this to the troubles – he’s totally undermining that struggle by connecting to his own racist POS behaviour. Plenty of us grew up during the troubles and plenty of us didn’t /don’t act like that.
Babadook, I didn’t *think* that was any more or less a problem in Ireland than anywhere else (sadly), but I thought Ireland’s “problems” were more religious and cultural rather than racial.
What saddens me so is that in 2019 we are *still* battling SUCH racism. That people haven’t figured out yet how much more we are alike, than any perceived differences. We are NO different under the skin. Why is that SO hard for those people to understand???
Clearly there were very few black men where he was living because he spent a week and a half looking for one and came up empty. Why did he immediately leap to the color of the attacker when the overwhelming odds would have been that he was white? This is such a gross story made more gross by the fact he does not see the racism.
Exactly. He may feel badly about it now but that doesn’t excuse the fact that he went out specifically looking to kill Black men and just any Black man he might come across. This is horrific but also telling. Super disappointed because he was a crush but fuck him. I pretty much know that every white person and a lot of other folks are cancelled, each day is someone new who reveals their true colors. His shame about it means nothing. People could have lost their lives over his bullshit racist actions.
His career should be over now.
And strange, WHY would he say this is it because he just made out with Viola Davis in Widow’s and he’s thinking he’ll get a get-out-of-jail-free racist pass? I’m just so confused.
This is the scary process of how we create “The Other”. It took him one incident (although indeed a terrible one) to explode.
If the perpetrator was white, he wouldn’t go out looking for a random white man, because he is one and can tell them apart. He would have needed another question (or more) to find the distinction between himself and the rapist. Was he tattooed (very popular Other)? Scottish? Protestant? Then off he’d go again.
Today, thanks to all the fearmongering, Muslim would probably be the first question of choice.
A lot of people were lucky nothing came out of this.
What a rough story to read. We can’t know that he would not have stalked the streets for any other man, though, because it didn’t happen. I’m not justifying his behavior, just acknowledging we cannot surmise what someone would have done in a situation that didn’t occur. We can’t say that in his rage he would have said, “white, with a long beard, you say? Ah, that’s not so bad. Let’s get dinner.”
Hypervigilance and rage kicked in, and it’s very possible he would have stalked the streets looking for any white guy with a beard to beat up. We can’t know. It’s also possible he was driven by race, and maybe that did give him extra fear or anger. He does look back with horror though, which shows a little growth, and I’ll give him that. There was family trauma, he reacted horribly, and with a steadier mind years later, recognizes it, and came clean.
I do see how this divides people though, and wanting to kill *any* person who looks like someone that wronged you or your family is plain wrong and scary, and keeps us divided. Hope things get better than this.
I disagree. He is speaking about it as the thirst for revenge, yet what he describes is NOT revenge. If he cannot discern that, and he can’t, then he doesn’t recognize anything.
A lot of innocent black men (and little boys!!) have died because of what he is describing. Honestly this is just inexcusable.
‘A lot of innocent black men (and little boys!!) have died because of what he is describing. Honestly this is just inexcusable.’
This this this this this.
Scores of black men and boys die in America – at the hands of people who view them as criminals/dangerous because of the colour of their skin. If Neeson’s participation in this racist BS isn’t problematic, I don’t know what is. There is literally no excuse. None.
Wilady, that’s basicly what I was thinking. I believe that if the victim told him the rapist was white, he’d ask another question (looking for something “other”), or more questions if need be, to narrow it down, then he’d go looking for anybody roughly fitting the description.
The reason why there were no other questions after skin colour is that it is a very telling factor in a predominately white country/city. The way he told the story (and the fact he didn’t manage to find a black man to attack) tells me there were not many people of colour around.
@wilady What you say reminds me of a tragic story here in the UK of a schoolboy who felt he had been disrespected by another boy, he went to the school and saw a completely different boy who looked like the one who’d disrespected him. He says he completely lost it and stabbed this innocent boy to death. Not that it would’ve been okay if he’d stabbed his intended target to death of course, and this case wasn’t race-related, but it’s a reminder of how these thoughts can easily turn into actions with tragic consequences for everyone involved.
Beat me to it – the problem is that it doesn’t sound like he is aware of it –
He realized what he was doing was wrong but not HOW wrong and why
It’s definitely problematic, that’s for sure.
Agree on all points.
I like that you bring in the concept of “othering” here, because it’s something so solidly ingrained in us.
I do think it’s most likely that he was just a racist murderous dickhead. Is he still? I don’t know. But i do like that he shared this story. People are rightfully terrified by this story, and thinking like this is more common than we like to believe. In sharing stories of how we’ve contributed to racism, we can help pull the veil down and get people talking about it. The more discussion we have about when we were racist pos’s, the more we can recognize those behaviors and thinking processes, and change.
I know everyone wants to just round people up and ship them off to racist island, and i know people are sick of waiting and having the conversations, but in reality, they do have to happen, especially to people who have grown up in racist environments.
As a side note, if he’s no longer a racist murderous dickhead, and realizes he was wrong, is he still cancelled? Do we really want people to change so we can accept them back into the fold, or do we just like the outrage?
I think it’s super important to bring light to our areas of darkness if we are acknowledging it was wrong and we are scared we were ever in that headspace. While what he said is awful it’s not like he’s alone in those thoughts of othering. And after being raped by a white man I had a lot of anger and hatred towards white men in general. I wanted to beat them up, I wanted to dominate them, I wanted to cause white men in general pain. I am white. I was just really angry at anyone who had any common trait with my douche. And skin color and gender was a real easy match.
People have terrible thoughts. Refusing to let them acknowledge their change of heart isn’t going to help anything. Talk talk talk and see we have more in common than things that divide us.
I… don’t have words for this. It’s all so horrifying.
(Also, what the hell was he THINKING just volunteering this at some random press junket interview?!)
Is he an alcoholic?
He could be but don’t think so.
He said that he did have a huge drinking problem after his wife died (drinking BOTTLES of liquor each night), but not anymore.
It is without-a-doubt a very hard story to hear. As far as telling it now, under these circumstances, it seems a bit confessional, like he just needed to unburden his conscience of this shameful event that he’s been carrying around for so long and saw an “easy” opportunity? He’s been doing these revenge movies for years now and maybe it’s finally forced him to look at his past and come to terms with what he did (or thought about doing). I honestly don’t know, of course, but it sounds like it was a very traumatic & difficult time.
Not as traumatic as it would be if he found an innocent black man to kill. His words. All he is missing is the white kkk hat and a tiki torch. I mean really.
Eh….*maybe* confessional yet it didn’t sound like he had any awareness of why his way of thinking has deadly consequences for people of color.
I didn’t get the impression that he recognizes that his reaction to a terrible event led to a racist mindset. He seems a bit ashamed and embarrassed about his anger and need for revenge, but not about the dangerously racist trope he’s perpetuating.
And that’s why it’s so problematic: he completely overlooks the racism–he seems downright blasé about the fact that he was about to carry out what is essentially an individual lynching.
Nev and Kitten, you’re both absolutely right. I hope my comment isn’t coming across as trying to excuse his mindset during that time (and even now, really). I’m just trying to wrap my head around it and understand but there really isn’t any understanding it. It’s all so dark and disturbing and beyond comprehension.
@smcollins-Oh no I didn’t take your comment as excusing his behavior.
And he may very well have been traumatized, but 1) It’s not HIS pain to feel, that pain belongs to the woman who was raped and 2) his perceived trauma unearthed deeply-held racist beliefs. And when I say “deeply-held” I mean this is some seriously racist shit that he actually does not appear see/acknowledge. It’s scary.
Thank you kitten.
Exactly @kitten Thank you! And the other point folks have been making about this is the fact of white men killing Black men in some sort of assumed “primal” act based on “protecting their women.” Think of Emmett Till, dear child who was viciously and horrifically murdered based on the story of him whistling at a white woman. And that one story is just the tip of the iceberg. Last year, I believe it was, the white woman did a death-bed confession and said she made the whole story up. *Generations* and no one convicted, a child tortured beyond recognition, and this was standard. *Is* standard. Were we not just discussing what happened to Jussie Smollett a mere couple days ago? White folks need to realize that confessing is just the tiniest beginning (and no, Black people do not want or need your confession, tell it to other white folks and do the work); they don’t deserve accolades (or interviews on morning shows) for the barest of acknowledgement of such fucked up racist thoughts and actions.
It is absolutely terrifying to think about this scenario taking place, and yes, also epically dumb of him to talk about it. He’s obviously not clicked on to how disgusting his line of thinking was in the time since this incident. Was he expecting any sort of understanding?!
This is bad, like, career ending bad. I don’t really care about Liam himself, but I’m super interested to see how his pr people handle this. That is one job i am glad i don’t have today.
This story is on the local (entertainment) news right now. Liam went on Good Morning America, too, with Robin Roberts (for those who don’t know her, she’s a very respected African American reporter). She is telling him that he has to “understand the pain of a Black person, hearing this”.
So, it seems his PR is sending him out on an apology tour to try and mitigate the interview. Somehow, if he was a Black actor, saying he wanted to go out and kill a White man who’d raped someone he loved, I don’t think he’d get this same Mea Culpa tour.
“Somehow, if he was a Black actor, saying he wanted to go out and kill a White man who’d raped someone he loved, I don’t think he’d get this same Mea Culpa tour.”
Yeah it’s almost like black actors intrinsically understand that being vocal about prejudice beliefs can actually sink an actor’s career. Guess it’s different when you don’t have white privilege to insulate you from life’s harsh realities.
I think he lost his senses-look at the execrable movies he’s filmed in the last ten or so years!-when his wife died suddenly from a ski accident. At the time of her death, Natasha Richardson was so beautiful and talented and it seemed pretty obvious that they were still in love even after years of marriage.
I believe when someone suffers a loss like that they can become unhinged. Neeson from his story has already demonstrated a lack of stability in the face of tragedy. His reaction around his wife’s sudden death has been more subtle than his reaction all those years ago; nevertheless, as the years have gone by he has lost touch with his better self and with his ability to discern what is appropriate and what is not.
Remember, this is the man who played Oskar Schindler. His recent roles have gone so far afield from that. Meanwhile, his sense of decency seems to have fallen off kilter, too. Really, was it necessary to share his “story”? To what purpose?
Ok but his wife’s tragic death didn’t make him racist. This story happened long before Natasha died, correct? So he’s been racist for a long-ass time, apparently. And TBF, I don’t understand what his racist beliefs have to do with Richardson’s awful and unexpected death.
Natasha has zero to do with him being a racist pos looking for a black man to lynch. What nonsense are you spewing??
Psychobabble…
WHY did he feel he had to share this?!
Exactly! I was trying to reason out the telling part, not the act itself.
I am so uncomfortable by this story that last night when I read it on HuffPost I told my brother to come home for the night. You know how many black men in history have been hunted and killed and wrongly prosecuted because of this? Because if it’s one black man it’s all of them.
When I say that black people aren’t able to be individuals this is what I mean. When I leave the house I represent every black woman any white person will ever come across. When my brothers leave the house they look like every black man you have ever come across. People of Color are punished as a group while white people are given the privilege of being an individual.
I feel terrible for her friend who was assaulted, unfortunately I’ve been close to the same boat. floating in a raft that was almost there, and I know how scary and traumatic the whole experience is. I’ve also been on the other side and watched my family and friends suffer from the trauma inflicted on them from other people, but I would never, in my wildest dreams, stalk the streets at night waiting for the first black man to walk by so I could harm them. Not only is that yes, historically racist but also my friend deserves real justice and closure. They deserve to see the person who caused them pain in handcuffs.
All this. As a black woman, I feel the same way. Our skin color makes us a target. I don’t know what is more disturbing, the fact that he was going to hurt an innocent man because of the crime of another or how casually he spoke about this. This is peak white privilege.
And I dont believe he would have stalked the streets had the perpetrator been white. He didn’t ask “How tall was he? Did he have facial hair?” All that mattered was that he was black. What’s more frustrating is that he will probably not suffer any consequences for this story because there are people out there who have the same mindset.
All of what you said.
One black man rapes someone and he spends a week wanting to kill *any* black man? that is just..wow. I guess black people aren’t individuals to him…
He probably should have just kept his mouth shut, this is a bad look.
You stated my feelings and thoughts almost word for word, that I said last night with my family and friends when we were talking about this.
I really did like older Liam and would have watched this movie after it had gone to Redbox, but now I feel actually ill when I think of his comment. I will not re-watch or see any of his films – even Love Actually which I really like- because I now won’t be able to not hearing those words as a running commentary of who his is.
After Jussie Smollett- these thoughts show how dangerous it is.
Liam is free to have these thoughts and I’m glad he wasn’t able to find a random black person he felt derserving of death. Yet for him to feel no shame about having those thoughts and feeling the environment is safe enough to express verbally without prompt is chilling.
If he/PR addresses this don’t couch it, don’t hedge it with if you were offended because he should be horrified that he was that type of person and just say I was trying to explain the mind set of how blind anger can rob you of all prospective and make you do crazy violent things. I’m thankful that I’ve been able to grow and time has allowed me to see the wrongfulness of that type of (disorders) thinking.
I wish he’d be able to cram something about how he understands and believes people are individuals and he would like to think he would not have these thoughts in the future. I hope he’s grown from being that person, but I personally can’t watch or support him again because it makes me feel physically ill.
I literally can’t believe people on this forum are expressing concern/excuses for him.
The gymnastics to somehow make his behavior and words less problematic (oh he’s finally shedding his guilt, he must have been sooooooooo traumatised…)…just…I don’t know.
Yes to everything you said. I’m also a black woman and the thing that gets me is just the added level of stress added to everything in life. Not only worrying about the violence inflicted on POC when we’re just randomly driving or walking along, but also because I feel like I am constantly representing all black people (to white eyes). I catch myself unconsciously trying to make every experience with a white person a good one so they have a better opinion or feeling toward black people as a whole and are then kinder to the next black person they encounter. It’s so exhausting. Like, I feel like I can’t just be a human being having a crap day because I worry that will affect some other black person somewhere down the line because the white person I’m interacting with unconsciously (or consciously as LN does) sees no difference between us. Argh it’s soooo exhausting. Anyway, I’m rambling and probably not being very clear but…!
@ROYALWATCHER, you are not rambling I totally understand and agree with you. Im tired of all this racism, and I refuse to apologise for the colour of my skin, I’m not going out of my way to make a white person think good of me, if they don’t like the way i look, well it says more about them than it says about me.
Sadly we are spiralling backward instead of going forward. In the last few years people with the same mindset as Liam think it’s okay to say whatever racist crap that’s on their mind. It doesn’t help with Brexit, Trump and other racist politicians across Europe allowing these people to think it’s ok now to be openly racist!
He’s a white man and will get away with this as people will make excuses for him…
I don’t know if this is bad? but as a white person I go out of my way to be more friendly, smile at, make contact with ect. with black people, middle eastern people, basically anyone not white.
Because I feel so bad about whats going on in this racist country even worse now with trump.
I guess I want to make people feel comfortable and represent that not all white people are racist pieces of sh*t.
75% of my family ARE racist pieces of Sh*t.
My little brother is black and studying in the UK. Wouldn’t hurt a fly, is innocent and naive as hell. But to people like Liam Neeson he’s a black bastard to provoke and kill. Im just tired at this point. I keep telling my brother, “they won’t see a child. They won’t see an A+ student. They see a threat to eliminate. Keep your head down, dont make any fuss, just finish your degree and come back home” But i understand now that no matter what he does or doesn’t do, people like Liam Neeson will target him and try to kill him. I don’t even know what to do at this point.
I am white but several family members have biracial children or adopted children of other races. As the children are now in their teen years it is only now that we as a family are really comprehending what this means and every time there is something on the news about an African American person being victim in a racial attack or shot by police my thoughts instantly picture my nephew/niece or my cousins children and the perspective that has opened up is just very overwhelming.
Cidy, thank you for sharing your thoughts. You bring up so many important points. My heart breaks for the many injustices that POC have suffered.
I’d like to think he’d have felt the same if it was a white guy, but I’m genuinely unsure of that. I don’t understand why he thought this would be a story to re-tell.
He should have just answered “color is irrelevant” or “it’s not a skin color story it’s a revenge story”. “She gave me a generic description and I was hoping to run into anyone with that generic description”. Done!
Furthermore the follow up just to clarify should have been “do you think you instinctively still have that feeling towards Men with Black skin?”
No, that’s still shady AF.
No. He stated his intent pretty clearly.
“I asked, what color was he?”
WHY DOES THAT EVEN MATTER.
Go back and read it again.
Obviously he’d made up his own scenario before he knew anything..he assumed race before simply asking ‘what’s he look like? ‘ he didn’t ask if he was tall or bald or fat or had tattoos..things that would actually be descriptive. .just knee-jerk racist.
I’m sorry – I wasn’t trying to imply that he would have definitely acted that way. I’d like to have thought he’d have had the same reaction no matter what race the abuser had been – but I doubt he would have.
You we’re on the Meghan thread just yesterday saying how Meghan writing a few kind words on bananas peel we’re wrong and now you are on here justified what Liam Nelson said.
They always show themselves.
WHOOOAAAAA No I certainly am not!
Go back and read – I did not justify his behavior whatsoever.
I said I’d LIKE to think he’d have done the same, but I was genuinely unsure of it. As in I can’t comprehend someone thinking that way, and sadly I genuinely doubt that it’d have been the same reaction. Maybe I shouldn’t have written so briefly. I was absolutely appalled by this story – I genuinely was of the mindset that he wouldn’t have behaved the same way, and it’s a SHAME that he would think that way.
He would not have felt the same way. MAYBE (big maybe) if the guy was white and had a distinct feature, missing a finger, neck tattoo, and he could single them out that way. But black was good enough for him. Yuck. God this is so bad.
It’s incredibly disgusting. I pointed out to my husband last night that that was the ONLY descriptor he went with – not even “short guy / tall guy… guy with tattoos …” just black. And it just completely baffles me that he’d have thought that was a valid frame of thought – and even more so that he’d have thought it was something worth retelling. Why would you TELL that story. It doesn’t really show remorse … and the fact that he’s openly sharing that is concerning as if it was like “meh, it was back in the day”.
The fact he is so specific and says “black bastard” makes me think he would not have been so blood thirsty is the rapist was white. Would he have beaten up all the white men who came out of a pub and started something? Or the first black man who bumps into him?
Stories like this scare me, there are way too many unstable people out there who are willing hurt someone just because of a accidental bump or wrong look.
But if he has been any other distinctive minority ethnicity people would’ve remember. What happens to hispanics in teh USA? They are usually bunched up as mexicans.
He was in a blind rage(understandable considering what happened to his friend) but he went around like this for a week. If some guy(who was black) came stumbling drunk out of a pub bumped into Liam, what would have happened? The man could have been innocent but Liam was blinded by rage. This is how innocent people get killed.
Whether Liam is racist is open for debate, but going around for a week in a blind rage looking to harm the first black man that crosses his path is just wrong.
Replying to RBC … No. It isn’t up for debate. He went hunting for a black man to kill, and you want to “debate” whether he’s racist. What the hell?
Oh dear there goes another one…
Still, I liked that he shared the story, even badly told as it is. I grew up in a super racist environment and de-programming yourself from that frame of mind takes a lot of time and effort, and to this day I need constant vigilance not to slip back in old thought patterns.
If we are to progress beyond racism even a bit it helps to discuss this level of unconscious bias.
There needs to be more context. If I’d been the reporter, I would have hammered him until I was satisfied that he was beyond any doubt a) racist or b) expressing a set of emotions and feelings that he no longer thought was correct, where his original impulse had come from and what, if the same thing happened (hopefully not) to someone he cared about, whether he’d repeat his original actions or what he would do differently.
That said, I was carjacked in my driveway at knifepoint by a black man, and the two black men walking down the street helped out and stayed with me until the police arrived, and gave statements. I wondered whether I’d feel differently about every young black male I saw on the street going forward and went on internal PTSD watch so I could nip anything like that in the bud. It never happened, although I now back into the driveway.
I think the reporter was taken aback. Neeson clearly missed the one thing that is staring everyone in the face…he asked about the color of the rapist? Why?
But he doesn’t discuss it as an example of how growing up in a racist society infects us all with implicit and/or explicit bias, and how that can destroy innocent lives — he discusses it as an example of how violent vengeance only reinforces a cycle of violence. One can mayyyyybe argue that his reference to The Troubles indicates an understanding of how pernicious a bigoted group punishment mentality can be, but no understanding of his own racism is demonstrated in the quotes shown. Certainly there’s no discussion of remorse for his racist inability at the time to see black men as anything other than a guilty monolith that wronged his tribe, and how he educated himself and overcame that. And he shows zero awareness that the exact mentality he displayed as a younger man has resulted in countless thousands of black deaths in majority-white countries (especially the USA) with larger black populations than Northern Ireland.
This isn’t a confession for the benefit of society, this is a confession to unburden himself, without any thought for the pain that it would cause to the wider audience. I agree about the need for deprogramming, and constant vigilance about one’s own thought patterns and deconstructing and addressing the racism that crops up there. I also agree that sharing this process sensitively is enormously useful for helping other white people who want to understand their own internalized racism better and address it constructively. But that’s not what he does here. At all.
I’m done with his movies.
He’s done. If the rapist was a redhead he would not have been out looking for any redhead to kill. Fck this guy.
I honestly do think he would have went out hunting for a white guy too. He seems like that type of guy. I like Liam, he seems solid and he does seem ashamed of the whole situation, his mindset, and the way he handled it. I think he should have been more specific and addressed how awful it was to resort to fascist thinking. Its a bad look for him. Is there a video where we can watch the whole clip? He needs to give more context…i don’t think it will help, but still.
As I stated above, simply, no. His first question was “what color was he?” Then He stated that he roamed the streets for a week WITH A WEAPON.
Not sure where you’re finding any other intent in his comments. He laid it right out there for us to see.
And yes, there is a video, and it actually makes it worse.
“What color is he?”
He told on himself right then and there.
If that were truly the case he wouldn’t have asked about the race of the assailant. He made a point of asking the assailant’s race. Now if he were looking for the ACTUAL assailant that would make sense. He wasn’t. He was looking for ANY black man to hurt and essentially lynch. And no his being racist is NOT debatable. He’s racist.
Awful, but I like that he apologised, he could have just hidden it forever. I think that it relates to the current climate, and how that is not ok.
Not sure where you’re seeing an apology, because there isn’t one. Of course, a little further up the thread you basically said that this only happened because Hispanics are profiled in “teh USA”, so your logic seems questionable at best.
Think poster is saying he could have total hidden that part of his life which was what 40 plus years ago? He talked about it and never had to reveal it. Not an apology but he at least confessed it. In no way does that make it right of course.
This story is so bad. What was he hoping to gain by telling it? It’s beyond stupid
Surprised he would even confess it this many years later. Guilt? not in his right head at the moment? Too old to care now?
Old, rich and white. He doesn’t have to care or pretend to, anymore.
This would have been a compelling story if he was the one who had been raped, and knew the exact person who did it, and spent weeks plotting his murderous revenge, but then decided that it would lead him down a dark path, so reported the perp to the authorities instead.
As told, it is actually a lynching fantasy, not revenge.
Exactly.
First his shitty comments on MeToo, now this? Really, Liam Neeson, you should stfu.
He also said a few years back he was comfortable with casual racial profiling because we all do it in everyday life!
Cancelled
Well, this is horrific.
I can’t believe he thought this was a good thing to say. I could see sharing the experience of wanting revenge for someone, but for heaven sake, the racist part is just awful.
Not surprised Neeson is trash.
Using Neeson’s logic I hate my white middle aged neighbour for what Neeson said. Cause you know, every white man is THE SAME, impossible to tell the difference.
He should just retire and keep his racist white middle aged saggy privileged ass at home.
This is sickening. In his apology, I hope he clarifies that he can see his ignorance and is committed to righting his wrong; that when he hears about a POC getting shot, beaten or harassed by a white, privileged, racist police officer or civilian, he’ll use his status to go out every day until the culprit is brought to justice. Anything less than that, and he’s cancelled.
As a black man. I’m really glad he didn’t find one. Honestly it just gets worst and more warped. Can’t.
I’m currently packing up large quantities of vodka and tequila to send to Liam and the studio’s publicists. They’re going to need it.
Wow….just….wow.
Never waste good spirits on a bad deed.
I can’t believe people are actually saying well liam pologize he not a bad person I feel bad for the woman who was attack . But my god he talking about hunting the streets of Ireland for any black person to murder as if we are animals that need to be hunted down shame on some of you who are defending this monster . Just last week Jussie was attacked by white people and a lot of so called woke people on here were bending over backwards to dismiss Jussie stories accusing him of lying because they believe what Tmz a know site that is basically trump central. We’re saying but now we a have white actor basically admitted with pride no shame whatsoever that he hunting the streets of Ireland for a black bastard to killed and you guys are making excuses for him unbelievable.
WORD.
I agree. He is describing lynching, and he is a racist, ignorant bastard. There are no excuses for this or him.
White women: THIS IS LYNCHING. THAT IS WHAT HE IS TALKING ABOUT. LYNCHING.
double post
ITA 100%
And I’m still pissed AF about so many people doubting Jussie’s story.
Yep. Beyond me why anyone would stick up for a person that said something like this. Why are People so invested in him being “a nice guy”—He’s a cheesy Hollywood actor that they don’t even know personally.
@Vanessa I agree with every word you said .
He is a racist that was on the hunt for any “black bastard”; not his friends rapist just any black man that he ran into. Stalking around a pub where some innocent black man whose had a couple of drinks stumbles into him so he can beat him to death. The only reason and I mean the only reason he didn’t go through with this lynching is because no innocent black man stumbled into him. He’s sorry that he want revenge not that his racist a** wanted to kill any black man.
All black peolple are always held accountable for the actikns of one black person never allowed to be individuals.
I do thank him for showing all there folks doubting Jussie Smollet attack, yes there are idiots out there looking for innocent people to hurt.
I was so looking forward to seeing the Men in Black reboot but that’s canceled, he won’t see a dime of my money.
Vanessa,
Never under estimate the ability for people to make excuses to the point of contouring for white people.
They will always get the benefit of the doubt, no matter how many times they tell you they don’t need it.
Sad, but so very true.
Exactly, Vanessa. EXACTLY. As Darla said, this is what lynching is.
A couple of thoughts. One is that I hate when men make a woman’s rape about them. It’s not about you!! If he really wanted to support his friend or partner or family member he should be there in whatever way she needs, not be dreaming up some racist revenge fantasy where he gets to come off looking like the “hero.”
Second is that he wasn’t just *thinking* about violence as noted in the post, he was PLANNING it. He admits to carrying a weapon during he black man hunting. This is premeditated murder he’s talking about.
#cancelled
Yes, agree on everything here!
You bring up such an important point in your first paragraph. This is not allyship, this is toxic masculinity at its finest.
RoyalWatcher – bingo on all counts.
Liam Neeson says his lesson learned was revengr is bad. Not a word about his murderous racism. And everyone here trying to excuse, defend or dance around the obvious racsim here, hello, you’re being racist too. Because you literally can’t get any more racist than ‘a black guy hurt my friend so I’m going kill any other black guy I can find.’ What’s wrong with you?
Excellent points.
As y’all young people say “cancelled”. As a black woman do people understand how many people we know or have heard of being assaulted, killed by white people?. Yet we don’t go around wanting to beat the hell out of every white person we see or trying to start sh** with people.
Well now…I wouldn’t go that far…Personally, I’m not trying to start shit with white people, of course, but I definitely avoid them if possible because a good percentage of the time (I’m talking high percentages here), dealings with white folks end up in some kind of damage to the Black person whether energetically, emotionally, or physically. You never know when someone is going to say some fucked up shit (case in point, this thread on a clear intent by LN to murder a Black man–*lynch* is the correct word–and white people still on here trying justify it). You never know motives or whether your life, livelihood, or safety could be in danger. Especially not after the last election. I have read other folks talking about that, how they are mistrustful especially of young white men on public transport or out in the city, because seriously, look at the news. Who is committing these murders? Who is targeting Black folks (as always)? Who is mass murdering and being galvanized to action by the current administration? I mean, it’s all out in the open now, isn’t it? So folks like LN feel able to share this stuff, something he’s carried for 40 years, but he’s not doing the actual work of divesting from his racism and we see from how he talks about it that he’s done no work during those 40 years to educate himself because his focus was on murdering any innocent Black man and some misguided revenge that made it all about him. Typical. I swear, in the workplace, on the street, I just keep my head down and hope that I will not be the next target of some white person’s misplaced anger, fear, or jealousy.
Idiot.
Dangerously so.
File under Stuff You Should Have Kept To Yourself.
His publicist, if he has one, must have spent the day screaming after this came out. What on earth would have possessed you to reveal something like this??
Especially since all you’ve shown is that you feel bad about being angry, but not about targeting random black men to satisfy your revenge fantasy, that you specifically asked your friend what color her attacker was, as if it mattered. Not apologizing for participating in something (looking to murder someone based on their color) that people of color have to live in fear of every single day.
I wonder how long it will take to get to “I was misquoted” or “this was taken out of context” or “I’m going into rehab because I’m so confused”. Anything but admitting what you said was horribly vile.
Another frakked up white man. And clueless AF. If that line of thinking is weighing on him, he tells his therapist, not the whole world. And he knows it. Was it planned?
I honestly think he felt it would make good press for his movie because why else talk about it now?! He also probably thinks he comes off looking good in the story because he didn’t actually go through with killing a random black man. Even after carrying around a weapon. Hunting for an innocent victim. In a blind rage. For a week.
He’s done a crap ton of other revenge movies so he’s had plenty of opportunities to tell this story. My honest feeling is that he probably thinks working with Viola Davis in that movie where they were married gives him some sort of ‘I’m not a racist’ cover. And so now he’s free to talk about how racist he is while thinking “I can’t be a racist, I kissed a black woman in my last movie!”
I thought the same thing. Just putting my tin foil hat on here but maybe camp Neeson thought that his target audience should be MAGA and this would resonate with them and garner their dollars? I really can’t think of why he would choose now out of all the revenge movies he’s done to say this. I want real consequences though and not a lame ass fake ass apology. Poor Viola Davis. She must be pissed right now after working with him.
Welp….
Sigh…and what I am about to say…pains me….
The fact that he and WE are currently living in a county…with a WHOLE, IGNORANT ASS RACIST as POTUS…leading a WHOLE IGNORANT ASS RACIST ADMINISTRATION…that is hell bent on TERRORIZING Black and Brown folks…and Liam thought…IN THIS HELLSCAPE…that it was cool to relay how he wanted to go out and KILL ANY BLACK MAN to avenge the tragedy that happened to his friend….
He is beyond cancelled…I sit Shiva for him…not because or what he did in the past…but because he didn’t have the common sense, the emotional intellect and the HUMANITY to keep…ALL THAT TO HIS DAMN SELF IN TODAY’S ATMOSPHERE!!!!
There’s just so many layers of this being so f–ked. Every step along the way he just screwed it up more. It’s awful that he reacted by immediately asking about race. It’s awful that it was about blind anger and not actually stopping the ACTUAL rapist. It’s awful that for a week any black man in his vicinity no matter his background, no matter his actions was at a huge risk of being beat – possibly to death. It’s awful that even after all of these years he looks at it as an issue with vengeful nature and doesn’t recognize the huge racist message he sent. Then on top of all that … he thinks it’s appropriate to spread this story – with this complete lack of understanding – in the shitshow we’re living in today.
I’m not sure he could have made it worse if he actively tried to be repulsive – and the fact that he is still oblivious is so insane.
Let’s break this down for those who may not understand how utterly racist this is: he felt no need to go out looking for the actual assailant. He was looking for ANY black man who he came across to hurt. What he is describing is essentially a desire to lynch a black man. Because that is how lynchings happened: a white man or a group of white man trolling around looking to hurt whoever came across their path. There is no debate about whether or not what he did is racist. None. It was. End of story.
The fact that his focus was on the color of the perpetrator’s skin tells me all I need to know.
I can’t believe I have to cancel Liam Neeson.
I’m just so disgusted and disappointed right now I don’t even have words.
Jussie Smollett is savagely attacked by white men for being a gay, black man and his response to that is to spread the message of peace and love to all. And people are trashing him all over social media.
Liam Neeson’s response to an attack on a friend (not to discount what happened to that woman!) is to hunt down any black man and kill him? How much do you want to bet he’s being praised as a hero all over Twitter?
I hate this fecking world.
One comment on twitter says Liam has a lot of testosterone and just being a real man. 👀
Because of course.
I so wish I’d lost that bet.
Well, Black twitter is definitely not praising him, quite the opposite.
For every Liam there are a thousand more like minded racists who now feel so empowered by this ‘confession’.
Stories like this, famous privileged white guy shares his racist moment should NEVER see print.
Exactly. And that is where even more of the problem lies: that, as you said, his “confession” will actually motivate others like him. He’s done no work to unlearn his racism; he sits in privileged ignorance about the actual facts of what he did and how it was wrong. For every roach, a thousand more lurk in the crevices. Who does this confession serve? And what “confession”? He admitted wanting to lynch any Black man he ran across. Not even any words of reflection or understanding, just reference to “primal” which of course is a line that white supremacist racists have used to justify themselves (while at the same time vilifying Black folk as animals and 3/5 human…when they’re “primal” in defense of their white women, it’s considered commendable)…This whole thing is just… I can’t.
There are too many “worst” parts of this story to even wrap my head around, but one of them I haven’t seen already mentioned (and apologies if I just missed it in another comment), is that the way he told it seemed as if he regarded it as an amusing actor’s anecdote. Like, it’s some harmless story about how he’s a real-life cool tough guy, not just one on screen. Just another witty story to share to promote his movie persona. It’s absolutely horrifying on every possible level.
Totally. I said something similar up-thread about how blasé he sounds but you did a great job of drilling down on something that I struggled to properly articulate.
He didn’t sound traumatized to me and that just adds to how chilling this whole thing is.
Yesterday this story really made me mad … now I’m reading that headline and laughing at how ridiculous the fool Liam neeson is.
He just ruined his own career…willingly.
Let’s cancel Liam and Mark walberg while we are at it (who actually carried out a racist attack). As disgusted as I am by this story I am kind of glad Liam shared because THIS IS HOW PEOPLE REALLY THINK. It is disgusting and shameful but it is a reality and I hope we can learn from it.
For some reason Mark Walberg will never be cancelled. His attack on that poor Asian man was disgusting. All that happened is that Mark got super famous and super rich. He’s a horrible actor too. Go figure.
MW is a major producer. So so many shows depend on his $$$, they will never let go. He knows this. The only thing he has going is money and an old Calvin Klein underwear ad (which wasn’t even cute anyway).
How do you know what he would have done if the perpetrator was white? She could have said “red headed” or “stocky” and it would have likely been the same reaction. You also need to understand that in Northern Ireland the black population is very small (0,70% in the 2011 census, probably way less by the time this happened), so a black perpetrator would have been way more noticeable than a random white guy.
People are so fixated on one line of his story that they seem to miss the overall point of it, which includes referring to a black man as a bastard (which is why he used air quotes). He’s talking about being consumed by thoughts of violence and revenge at the time, which likely includes irrational and ignorant racism, and how looking back they are all awful.
“You also need to understand that in Northern Ireland the black population is very small (0,70% in the 2011 census, probably way less by the time this happened)”
Yeah so then WHY would he ask what color he is? Why wouldn’t he just assume that he is white, like the vast majority of Ireland’s population? Just NO. He said “black bastard” and you’re attempting to defend it by saying that he used “air quotes” like that somehow minimizes it? Would he have said “white bastard” if the perpetrator had been white? Why bring the man’s race into it at all?? The perpetrator is a rapist, he’s a bastard so just call him THAT and omit a superfluous and unnecessary description of his race. Unless, of course, the man’s race was personally relevant to Liam.
(are you getting it now?)
Oh, and the fact that Ireland is majority white probably only exacerbates his racism. Maybe if he met and interacted with more POC he wouldn’t feel the need to “other” them.
+1 Kitten
Maybe he wasn’t in Ireland at that time? Even so there wasn’t that many year sago a large population of POC in Britain area. Think there is a lot more to the story than what he told us. Why the heck would he conclude that right away?
I’m not defending his use of words. I’m just saying it’s evident that way of thinking 40 years ago is not necessarily how he thinks of it now. The story is awful but he told it as a low moment in his life of what he says has learned from. I just don’t understand the mentality of judging people so harsh for their past, as if they couldn’t somewhat evolve and be better. And unfortunately, places with a low percentage of some ethnicity are full of ignorant people prejudiced against said ethnicity, so of course he would have thought to ask if he was black. Just because he was racist back then, doesn’t mean he is now.
Because he was casually using an anecdotal story in relation to his acting. He was NOT–as you seem to imply–speaking of his racist past and how much he has changed since then. In fact, he didn’t even acknowledge that his thinking was dangerously racist at the time.
I haven’t seen what he’s said on his apology tour but based on that interview alone, I’m not convinced that he understood how f*cked up it was that his first instinct was to ask what race the perpetrator was. On top of that, he admits to going out and searching for a black person to kill. If people calling him out on his racism gets him to grow then that’s something but I don’t see that happening yet.
This is black history month and every f*cking day so far POC have been met with disgusting, unconscionable and overt displays of racism. They are TIRED.
Great post Kitten. And you are so right about black history month. My gawd.
I’m not doing any Black History Month gigs this year. Fuck it.
Honestly, this story could have gone untold. I’m sure everyone has stories about thoughts they regret having. Sometimes airing them out serves to do nothing but clear our conscience at the detriment of others.
This is where I am. I think its a disgusting story, and hurtful to countless of people – and while I “think” I know what he was trying to say overall*, not every thought you have needs to be shared. And he seemed to know that it was going to be a problem sharing this, but shared it anyway!
*I “think” he was trying to say how he empathized with some of his characters because he has experienced that kind of rage…..but instead he’s just admitting that he spent this week being this crazed homicidal racist. And this is the kind of thing where intentions don’t matter.
ETA and to be clear I think this story is awful regardless of intentions like I said, and I think it shows how deep racism runs in our society that he probably doesn’t even consider this story to be racist.
+1
Dangerous and disgusting thinking… not shocking at all though. He clearly thinks black men are beneath him and apparently all are deserving of a vicious beating, no matter who they are or what they’ve done.
How long before Trump invites Liam to the White House?
A friend of mine grew up in Northern Ireland during the troubles. She went to a non-segregated school and knew two kids who were best friends, one was catholic and the other protestant. When one was killed by terrorists the other was murdered as revenge. Is it better that it wasn’t just some totally random killing of someone simply because of their religion? Or is it worse because the revenge was perpetrated on the totally innocent friend of the original victim, causing even more heartache to those who loved them both? It was a screwed up place in a screwed up time. I am not going to second guess the context or the exact wording the man used, because it is one hell of a thing to admit to and he knows it.
Racism is everywhere. I’ve traveled a lot and it isn’t exclusive to one country. It is everywhere. Yes, even in Northern Ireland.
That isn’t the point I was making. It was a time of violence and tribalism. He would have grown up in a world of ‘them and us’ and revenge killings were pretty common place. Kids would avoid giving their names or saying which school they don’t attended, because it could give away their religion and make them a target, I don;t doubt there was and is racism in Northern Ireland, but back them it was pretty low on the hate crimes scale.
I’ve read a few comments on various sites about the significance of tribalism in the Neeson / Nth Ireland context. This argument is as follows: In seeking out a random black person, he wasn’t so much clinging to a racist stereotype or saying/assuming any random black person would be a rapist. Rather, he trying to act out tribal retribution in the sense the group is responsible for the individual.
Nevertheless, no excuse; Neeson should have considered things like how black people are targeted as criminals and the violence against black bodies in the US, before he opened his big mouth. He should have consider the context in which he was speaking.
Let us all remember what Maya Angelou said, “ When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” I believe him, and have no desire to hear or see him ever again.
I will never look at him the same way, now that this story’s come out. I’ve always kind of had a soft spot for him, but that’s over. Yikes, dude. Glad you learned from it (Is that what this is about? ), but maybe you never should have told anyone about that ever. This is just disgusting.
But what did he learn?
This begs the question of whether he’s attacked or murdered anyone else. I mean, Jesus. Who thinks this way?
I think people, not all, have had thoughts of rage against anyone that they feel has hurt them in some way. I have read stories about the Japanese-Americans being afraid during WW2 of being targeted just because of their ethnicity. I think in some areas being gay can make you a target, as well as hispanics, blacks, etc. I hope that most people who have this anger will realize that they can not blame a whole group for the actions of one individual because that is obviously racist. I wish he hadn’t shared it with us because it makes me sick to hear comments like that but am grateful he didn’t act on it like others have done.
Yet no one believes Robin Diangelo when she says that the default setting for white people is racist with privilege. White families don’t have to talk about race, ipso facto white kids grow up vulnerable to whatever they learn in the streets no matter how well meaning their parents are. This guy was conditioned to be racist from birth, so how do we move forward? Also, before we start throwing around the “diversity” word, lets first establish that it’s not the same thing as inclusion….
I think we should allow people to be honest about their bad behavior. I’m just against anyone hiding anything. Out in the open is always better to me. He’s taking a huge change telling this story. I give him credit for that. He knows it’s wrong.
I don’t him any credit. He told his truth and now facing the reactions from others. He just spoke about his attempt to commit a hate crime, which honestly is never pleasant to hear. He is allowed to say he wants but he can’t control how people react to it. He was allowed to say what he wanted on national T.V while promoting his movie. He still acts, so his life will go on. And he still has some supporters. The only thing he is hurting is his reputation, which was always outside of of his control. What you are taking about is giving someone mercy which doesn’t happen in America’ s meritocracy.
I think once you put something like this out there, it’s no longer just about you / Liam Neeson / whoever decided to use their platform to put something out there. It’s the public conversation, the general public discovering and creating what are acceptable norms and standards. It’s culture in action and it’s messy. Don’t take it too personally, but if they do make an example out of you, that’s what can happen.
Can I also mention that Europe seems especially backwards in their understanding of racism?
Well I’m glad he shared the story. I’m disappointed that so many people are like “why would he tell this story” – the story needed to be told and this how a large percentage (if not the majority) of white people are towards black peoples in particular. These are exactly the kinds of things that need to be discussed because it shows just the depth of ingrained racism and prejudice towards blacks people by white people. I’m glad he shared it. I’m also glad that he can now recognize how wrong he was.
He did what he did because he was conditioned to react that way towards black people; and he probably didn’t even realize it. That’s how insidious racism is folks. Quit trying to sweep it under the rug or hide behind niceties.
Great post, Patty.
Yup America was racist and still racist. It never really change. Only difference now, is more people see it. Once Trump leaves office, then the interest of the this subject “racism” will die down again.
I’m not reading through all the above comments but I don’t know why he felt compelled to admit this??? Look we all have evil thoughts at some or another but we know to keep those to ourselves. And most of us didn’t go skulking around with a weapon looking for someone to kill. Have I had racist thoughts over the years? Yes. And we’d all be lying if we said we hadn’t. But it never occurred to me to do anything like this!
The next thing I wondered, of course, was whether the rapist was actually black. Not the first time someone has said “it was a black person” out of a variety of motives. It would make the situation that much more messed up – Liam out hunting any black guy to hurt for no reason at all.
Exactly!!!! How many times has that happened? White people constantly saying “they were Black” when asked and even we have evidence of people saying, just say it was a Black guy…The stories are too numerous to detail but we know what’s going on. Black people as scapegoats…this shit never ends…
LMAO, dude changed his story now, saying he asked his woman friend about “race” of the person who did it after asking her if she knew who the person was.
Then he went out deliberately into black areas in the city looking to be set upon so that he could unleash physical violence.
After a week and some days went by with no luck, he then went in for a confession with a priest and did some power walk to release his anger. Racist bigot.
That doesn’t sound like a change in the story. It sounds like added details, none of which are inconsistent in the two versions.
One interesting aspect (which was also in the initial interview) was that he was hoping someone would do something to him so he would have the excuse to kill in self-defense. He wasn’t actually going to kill the first black guy he saw, but rather the first black guy who would mess with him (“have a go” at him) that he thought would justify the deed. He still would possibly have killed someone unconnected with the rape (depends on how many black guys there were in his vicinity), but not randomly.
” He still would possibly have killed someone unconnected with the rape but not randomly ”
Looking to kill any black bastard is not randomly? I see. Massive eye roll here.
And he tweaked/changed his first version of the story to make it sound less racist by saying he asked what race was the rapist, not his color. Please like saying, are you Hispanic instead of are you Mexican.
“He wasn’t actually going to kill the first black guy he saw, but rather the first black guy who would mess with him (“have a go” at him)”
I’m sorry, but was that detail supposed to make the story itself sound better or more justifiable? Like, why exactly would you bring up that point to begin with?
Also, what do you think would have counted as a provocation to someone like Liam Neeson? Because I can guarantee to you that it would have been something as potentially innocuous as someone sticking their hand in a coat pocket, or wearing a hoodie, or speaking too loudly.
I can’t even. I really liked him. Nope. Done.
Neeson has always given me thug vibes, so I’m not surprised by his irrational need for revenge. But, damn, the unconscious level of evil and ignorance that motivated him to stalk just any black man is what I find horrifying.
I’m sorry but what the f*ck
WHAT THE ABSOLUTE F*CK
Can you just imagine being in the room when that conversation went down. Just…oh my God
I was totally done with him years ago after hearing him talk about carriage horses!!!’ This is insanity, he’s an awful human.
What did he say about carriage horses?? *off to Google*
Why in the hell would you say that TO A JOURNALIST??
Exactly. I’m upset he said this and shocked he said it to a JOURNALIST .
My friends and I (all different races, cultures) were trying to figure out what his goal was…here are some top guesses…
1) He was drunk and/or Lindsay Lohan level “exhausted ” if you catch my drift
2) He needed to get it off his chest finally
3) He felt he deserved punishment in some way consciously/sub
4) My one friend thinks he’s just got news he’s dying.
5) He felt “safe” enough in his adoring movie star haven to think he would be looked at as brave for revealing this….
I mean, you gotta think: wtf would make him say this to a JOURNALIST in this day and age.
My niece, who is mixed race, thinks he wanted to get it out and show how much he’s grown, to show even Anyone can change, move forward, and I believe certain people can.
I know MANY people who have changed and grown on their views. Perhaps, he was trying to say that.
Honestly, I don’t know.
He brought this story up to talk about the pointlessness of revenge. He should have just related his experiences living in Northern Ireland during The Troubles, seeing friends of different backgrounds getting killed instead of trying to make a connection between his own experiences and his thoughts on revenge. Does that make it better? Don’t think so. Should he be cancelled? That’s debatable but at the very least he should not get a pass as if nothing happened or heaven forbids even giving him a nod for being brave with the disclosure. In light of the recent attack on Jussie Smollett, this serves as a reminder that not only has hate crime never really gone away, it’s actually making a comeback.
I’m glad he confessed because hopefully more people will open their eyes and realize that racism and hate crimes are becoming more prevalent.
Someone brought up a good point on Twitter that I’ll do my best to paraphrase here. You have a person like Liam Neeson, a white man, openly confess during an interview without a shred of self awareness that he was hunting for a black man to kill because of a racist revenge fantasy.
And yet, people have trouble believing that a gay black man like Jussie Smollett is being fully honest when he tells people that he was brutally attacked by two people who poured bleach on him and put a noose around his neck.
Sounds about white.
Agree. The irony and unfairness in judging and criticizing Jussie is just unreal.
People like Liam who have racist revenge fantasies attacked Jussie Smollett.
I could understand his anger at th rapist….but to look for any black man to kill? That’s just horrific.
Yeah, it’s horrible but apparently Northern Ireland had a very tribalistic mindset, so in his mind, killing a black man was attacking the tribe and hence there’s a level of personal revenge leveraged against the original perpetrator. Not condoning but some context. That’s why he doesn’t think it’s racist; to him it was tribal retribution.
Did he, oh I don’t know, help his friend report the assault? Take her to the police station? The hospital?
He really thought he was being sympathetic to women didn’t he? Trying to ride the #metoo coattails with his white bread patriarchy. And what does the history of Northern Ireland have to do with anything? And can all of them get a collective therapist and figure out why they have to call civil war “The Troubles”???? Jesus.
I’m so tired of old white guys thinking they’re the unsung action heroes of the world. They’re not.
He tried to “help” a rape victim by searching for a black man to kill. This is exactly why most rape victims don’t want to talk about their incident. Liam used rape as an excuse to try and get away with a hate crime. He’s a disgusting, repulsive piece of garbage.
Guess what. His red carpet premiere for the movie in NYC is cancelled, lol. His PR team is scrambling to salvage what mess he’s made.
WTF did I just read
Holy moley.
And I liked him. I’m tired of all my favorites ruining themselves for me.
If people had actually listened to or read the article that was made clear. He was self reflecting on a thought process and behaviour that he was ashamed of. Piers Morgan tried to make a story out of someone who had changed their attitude.
it’s embarrassing reading through the pearl clutching here. point your torches where they’re needed.
Don’t you have a Joe Rogan podcast to be listening to? Let the grownups talk.
I’m glad he confessed this story because now I can delete him and not contribute to any of his movies! I never even liked him as an actor anyways, but now I definitely won’t be watching any of his revenge movies.
Who is Liam Neeson?