In a bid to come out as a person who cares about women, Liam Neeson mistakenly revealed information in a way that has hit him back, quite badly.
During an interview with Britain's the Independent, the Oscar nominee and action star, Liam Neeson, described an incident when he found out that one of his loved ones was raped.
"There's something primal – God forbid you've ever had a member of your family hurt under criminal conditions," the Irishman said before starting the story that will be told for the first time.
Neeson had just returned home from one of his overseas tours when he learned about the rape. He was fuming when he learnt about the situation. "She handled the situation of the rape in the most extraordinary way," Neeson says. But Neeson's immediate reaction was to find more about the culprit and for that, he started asking questions like, "did she know who it was? No. What colour were they? She said it was a black person."
Things don't go down well from here on, for after this he went out with the objective to seek revenge. As was reported in the Independent, he says, "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."
Though later in the interview, he did reveal how silly of it was of him to believe in revenge. Neeson confesses saying, "It was horrible, horrible, when I think back, that I did that." And the fact that he confessed that to a journalist also made him feel shy.
Journalist Jeremy Helligar believes while Liam Neeson's actions were racist, it doesn't make him a racist. He says Neeson simply 'lacked awareness'. pic.twitter.com/BK9bMPmW0p
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) February 5, 2019
The takeaway?
I did learn a lesson from it, when I eventually thought, "'What the f**k are you doing,' you know?" Nesson reflected upon his own actions.
"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."
So Liam Neeson’s response to a loved one being raped was to:
— rocket juju (@juliacraven) February 4, 2019
1. Ask the race of the assailant, which tells us his racism was deep rooted before the assault.
2. Roam through (presumably) black neighborhoods in hopes of provoking a black person so that he could murder them. pic.twitter.com/5C4PBWVSWY
Neeson's confession has not gone down well with his fans and activists. They have targeted his privilege of being a white person that gave him the grounds to chant such racist thoughts.
"Racism n white privilege is so pervasive, #LiamNeeson felt comfortable enough 2 tell the world the walked around a community in search of a random Black person 2 provoke and kill because he was angry. He prob anticipated this would come w/ no consequences. And he might be right," said one tweet.
Racism n white privilege is so pervasive, #LiamNeeson felt comfortable enough 2 tell the world the walked around a community in search of a random Black person 2 provoke and kill because he was angry. He prob anticipated this would come w/ no consequences. And he might be right.
— Shanita Hubbard (@msshanitarenee) February 4, 2019
Another tweet clearly reflected the uselessness of it all and questioned Neeson as to why would he risk his career at such a critical juncture.
Whatever be the case, Liam Neeson did feel sorry for saying that.
