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Liam Neeson Is On an Apology Tour Because He Had a Racist Thought 40 Years Ago

Man, Liam Neeson really stepped in it now when he made the schoolboy mistake of talking about how he grew as a person and overcame a dark impulse. Here’s what Neeson told The Independent while promoting his new film Cold Pursuit.

It begins as an explanation of how his latest character turns to anger. “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 [referring to a rape of a close friend]. “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.”

Hey, look at that, Liam Neeson thought about doing something shitty once, didn’t do it, and talked about how bad he feels about even thinking it 40 years later. What a mensch. Wait, he’s cancelled and we hate him now? Jesus Christ, seriously? You realize this is exactly what people mean when they talk about “thought crime,” right? We’re now mad about something someone didn’t even do.

Neeson went on Good Morning America to declare that he’s not racist after he didn’t attack a black man 40 years ago and I just can’t.

Also, Liam Neeson is Irish, and specifically, he’s from Northern Ireland. There’s about a thousand black people in all of Northern Ireland, which has a population of nearly 2 million. I’m not making those numbers up, either. So the odds of his racist revenge attack happening were pretty low to begin with.

“If she had said an Irish, or a Scot, or a Brit or a Lithuanian I know I would have felt the same effect,” Neeson said. “I was trying to show honor, stand up for my dear friend in this terrible, medieval fashion.”
Roberts pointed out the pain some have felt over Neeson’s remarks and he said he hopes his comments help people to talk more openly about racism and bigotry.
“Violence breeds violence,” he said. “Bigotry breeds bigotry.”
Yeah, in case you missed the point of the story, it was “don’t do this, it was bad and I’m glad I didn’t actually do it.” So go cancel someone else, as if anyone cares. Louis CK actually took his dick out in front of a bunch of people who didn’t want him to take his dick out and you couldn’t cancel him, I don’t think “I once had a bad thought about black people” is quite the outrage-starter you think it is.
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