NEESON AXED
Liam Neeson’s Cold Pursuit film premiere in New York CANCELLED after ‘black b*****d’ row
Just hours before the event to promote Cold Pursuit was due to start, organisers said it was no longer going ahead
THE premiere of Liam Neeson's new film has been CANCELLED following the actor's comments about killing a "black b*****d" in retaliation for the rape of a loved one.
Organisers of the New York premiere of Cold Pursuit said it had been cancelled a couple of hours before it was supposed to start.
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It comes after the Hollywood star, 66, sparked controversy when he disclosed how he had walked the streets armed with a cosh, hoping he would be approached by "a black b*****d" so he could kill him.
He said he was compelled by a "primal" and "medieval" desire for revenge in response to the rape of a friend who said her attacker was black, but has denied being racist.
The actor shared the personal story as he promoted his new film Cold Pursuit, which sees his character Nels Coxman go on a journey to kill.
The film follows the snowplough driver seeking revenge against the drug dealers he thinks killed his son.
Neeson told The Independent he had spent "maybe a week" walking near pubs with a heavy stick and "hoping some 'black b*****d' would come out of a pub and have a go at me about something, you know? So that I could ... kill him."
Discussing his controversial remarks today on US talk show Good Morning America, he said: "I had never felt this feeling before, which was a primal urge to lash out".
He added: "After that 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.
"I did it four, maybe four or five times, until I caught myself and it really shocked me, this primal urge. It was shocking."
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Neeson said he would have had the same reaction if his friend, who has since died, had told him she was raped by a white man.
He added: "If she had said Irish or Scot or a Brit or a Lithuanian, I know it would have had the same effect.
"I was trying to show honour to and stand up for my dear friend in this terrible medieval fashion."
Neeson said no violence took place.
Earlier today former England footballer John Barnes defended the Irish actor saying he "deserves a medal".
Barnes, who suffered appalling racial abuse during his playing career, told Sky News: “I believe that Liam Neeson deserves a medal and I’ll tell you why.
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“I’ve listened to the transcript, and he was talking about how revenge doesn’t do anyone any good.
“If you listen to everything he’s talking about, he’s saying that in the moment, and you can’t blame him for thinking what he feels, this is what society has wrongly shown him that black people do.
“He said for a week he was going around looking to kill a black person, or a black b*****d, and he did do it in quotation marks.”
Neeson is also set to feature in blockbuster movie Men in Black International, a multimillion pound reboot of the sci-fi franchise which comes out in June.
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