On Monday morning, Liam Neeson admitted that 40 years ago, when he was in his mid to late 20s, he walked the streets of black neighborhoods with a weapon, hoping to look for the black man that raped a female friend of his. “After [learning of the rape] there were some nights I went out deliberately into black areas in the city looking to be set upon so that I could unleash physical violence,” he said. “And I did it for maybe four or five times until I caught myself on, and it really shocked me, this primal urge I had. It shocked me, and it hurt me. I did seek help.”
Almost immediately, public scorn derived from these comments, mostly due to Neeson having to share the skin color of the rapist.
This morning, Neeson was promoting “Cold Pursuit,” a revenge thriller, and was asked about the controversy, to which he flat-out responded “I am not racist” adding “this was nearly 40 years ago.”
He told the interviewer that it didn’t matter if the rapist was black or white, he would have had the same gut-level fury. Of course, Neeson was asked if his anger or actions would have been different if he found out the rapist wasn’t Black.
“If she has said an Irish, or a Scot, or a Brit, or a Lithuanian, I know I would’ve felt the same effect,” the actor said. “I was trying to… stand up for my dear friend in this terrible medieval fashion. I’m a fairly intelligent guy, 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 damage control continued further in the chat with ABC’s Robin Roberts. “We all pretend we’re all politically correct in this country…in mine, too,” Neeson said. “You sometimes just scratch the surface and you discover this racism and bigotry, and it’s there.”
The short version: "Woman Unknown" was a compromise. The jury deadlocked over "Possible Love" and "NAZA," not able to com to terms, fell back on their #3, May el-Toukhy's film.