Liam Neeson asserts he’s ‘not racist’ after controversial revenge-killing interview

Liam Neeson has appeared on Good Morning America  to try to make amends for a recent eyebrow-raising interview during which he described a "primal urge" to kill a black man in an act of revenge.

Liam Neeson has addressed his controversial interview on Good Morning America.Credit:ABC

Neeson said that he did ask about the assailant's other attributes, which were not mentioned in the original story.

He sought help by going to a priest for confession, speaking with friends and taking up power-walking – "believe it or not" – and said he probably would have reacted the same way had the assailant been white.

"I was trying to show honour, stand up for my dear friend in this terrible medieval fashion," Neeson said.

"I'm a fairly intelligent guy, and that's why it kind of shocked me when I came down to Earth after having these horrible feelings. Luckily, no violence occurred ever, thanks be to God."

The action star's intention in appearing on Good Morning America was to address the issue head on, and Roberts commended him for doing so but still had some skepticism in her voice. Neeson said he hoped "to open up to talk about these things."

"We all pretend we're politically correct," he added. "In this country, it's the same in my own country. Sometimes we scratch the surface and we discover racism and bigotry and it's there."

But when Roberts, who is black, asked him what lesson he learned, he threw it back to her.

"We have to own up," she said. "This [story] wasn't discovered by somebody. You admitted this. This isn't a 'gotcha.' So I give you credit there. But also having to acknowledge that the hurt – even though it happened decades ago – the hurt of an innocent black man, knowing that he could've been killed for something he did not do because of the colour of his skin."

She urged him to understand the pain of a black person hearing what he said too.

"Violence breeds violence, bigotry breeds bigotry," Neeson said.

Los Angeles Times, with staff writers

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