Liam Neeson has raised eyebrows with a new interview in which he describes actively walking the streets to attack a black person, after his friend was raped.

During an interview with The Independent, the Taken actor discussed the idea of revenge, inspired by his new film Cold Pursuit, and shared his own alarming behaviour.

“God forbid you’ve ever had a member of your family hurt under criminal conditions,” he began. “I’ll tell you a story. This is true.” 

He then explained that a woman in his life had been sexually assaulted “many years ago”, which inspired what he described as a “primal” reaction from him.

Liam said: “She handled the situation of the rape in the most extraordinary way. But my immediate reaction was… 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 ‘black bastard’ [two words which the newspaper refers to him as using air quotes as he said] would come out of a pub and have a go at me about something, you know? So that I could… kill him.”

Reflecting on his behaviour, Liam acknowledged that he had acted in a “horrible, horrible” way, adding: “I’ve never admitted that, and I’m saying it to a journalist. God forbid.

“It’s awful. But I did learn a lesson from it, when I eventually thought, ‘What the fuck are you doing’, you know? I understand that need for revenge, but it just leads to more revenge, to more killing and more killing.”

HuffPost UK has contacted Liam Neeson’s publicists for further comment.

Within hours of the interview being published, Liam Neeson’s name quickly began trending on Twitter.

The actor previously sparked a backlash in 2018, when he commented that he felt sexual abuse allegations in the wake of the Me Too movement had turned into a “witch hunt”.

Useful helplines and websites:

• Victim Support – Visit victimsupport.org.uk or call 0808 168 9111 Sexual Abuse Referral Centres – Find a SARC
• Rape Crisis – Visit rapecrisis.org.uk or call 0808 802 9999 The Rape and Abuse Line – Visit rapeandabuseline.co.uk or call 0808 800 0123 (answered by women) or 0808 800 0122 (answered by men).