Liam Neeson's racist vigilante confession sparks calls to boycott his films

[spaminator]

Liam Neeson's racist vigilante confession sparks calls to boycott his films
WENN - World Entertainment News Network
Published:
February 4, 2019
Updated:
February 4, 2019 3:22 PM EST
Liam Neeson has angered fans with a story about how he roamed the streets looking for a black person to attack in reaction to the alleged rape of a friend.
The Northern Irish actor is currently promoting his latest revenge thriller Cold Pursuit, and spoke to Britain’s Independent newspaper about how he identifies with his character, a snow plow driver turned vigilante out to avenge the death of his son.
During the chat, Liam revealed that a female pal told him she had been raped after he returned from an overseas trip – and that he went looking to kill a “black bastard” because of his friend’s description of the alleged perpetrator.
“She handled the situation of the rape in the most extraordinary way,” he confessed. “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’ would come out of a pub and have a go at me about something, you know? So that I could kill him.”
The star admitted his actions were “horrible” and “awful” and said he had “learned a lesson” from the bleak period following the rape.
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His racist language and horrifying past actions sparked fury from disappointed fans – some of whom threatened to boycott his films.
Musician and actress Lisa Moorish wrote on Twitter: “Well that’s my love affair with Liam Neeson over with. Racist twat.”
Others called him “cancelled” and expressed concern about his racially motivated response.
In the interview the 66-year-old actor blamed his reaction on his tough upbringing in Northern Ireland during the Troubles.
Some fans praised the star, however, for owning up to his shocking past and expressing his shame at his actions.
YouTuber Joe Julians wrote: “So, Liam Neeson freely reveals some horrible things he did in the past and most importantly states how much he regrets it, but we’re all going to condemn him anyway? Way to go Twitter.”
Liam’s representatives did not respond to a request for comment.

http://independent.co.uk/arts-enter...ursuit-sexual-assault-interview-a8760866.html
http://torontosun.com/entertainment...-confession-sparks-calls-to-boycott-his-films

 

[spaminator]

No red carpet for Liam Neeson film premiere following racist revenge confession
Associated Press
Published:
February 5, 2019
Updated:
February 5, 2019 5:05 PM EST
The red carpet at the premiere of Liam Neeson’s newest film has been abruptly cancelled amid fallout from the actor’s comments about decades-old thoughts he had about killing a black person.
Organizers of the New York premiere of “Cold Pursuit” informed journalists that interviews and photo opportunities had been cancelled on Tuesday afternoon, a couple hours before the event was supposed to start. The film’s screening Tuesday night will continue as planned.
The changes came hours after Neeson appeared on “Good Morning America” to address his comments, telling interviewer Robin Roberts that he is not a racist. He was quoted in an interview by the Independent on Monday describing his violent thoughts about killing a black person nearly 40 years ago after learning that someone close to him had been raped.
The actor told Roberts discussion about these things is needed because bigotry and racism exist.
Clemence Michallon, the journalist who interviewed Neeson, said she was was shocked by his comments.
The 66-year-old star was promoting his new movie when he described why he identified with his character, a snowplow driver out to avenge the death of his son.
Liam said he was ashamed his response to a female friend telling him she’d been raped by a black man was to wander the streets brandishing a cosh looking for a “black bastard” who would fight him so he could kill him.
Speaking on U.K. breakfast TV show Good Morning Britain, Clemence said she had expected the 20-minute interview to be about “fluff” around the film and that she was taken aback by the “shocking” nature of the star’s revelations.
“The gravity of what he was saying immediately struck me,” she told hosts Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid. “It was a matter of playing that tape over and over again to myself and going back to his team, trying to get more comments, which they’ve declined that opportunity.”
Michallon said Neeson showed he was aware of the explosive nature of his comments and even joked he would come after her like his CIA agent character in the Taken films.
“As the interview was wrapping up, he asked me if I was going to use that story, if I would be very careful,” Michallon recalled. “I said yes, because I’m always very careful, especially when I’m doing my work as a journalist. Then he sort of switched to his actor voice, and there’s a famous phone scene in Taken, where his character is talking to the people who have kidnapped his daughter, and he said: ‘I have a very specific set of skills and I will find you and I will kill you.’ It was, in his mind, clearly a joke. Whether or not that was appropriate remains to be determined. But he said, ‘I will find you’. He said that to me in the same voice.”
Although the culture scribe was stunned by an episode Liam himself described as “horrible” and awful” she refused to be drawn on whether they should be career ending, as outraged fans have suggested on social media.
– with files from WENN.com

http://torontosun.com/entertainment...-racist-revenge-confession-shocked-journalist

 

[spaminator]

Liam Neeson could be cut from ‘Men In Black’ reboot after shocking comments
American Media Inc.
Published:
February 7, 2019
Updated:
February 7, 2019 1:03 PM EST
Disgraced star Liam Neeson faces being erased from his latest film, Men In Black: International, according to RadarOnline.com.
Fans outraged by his admission he once stalked the streets with a bat hell-bent on killing any “black bastard” are calling for his scenes in the big-budget sci-fi flick to be cut.
They also want the star to be replaced in the film in the same way Kevin Spacey was cut from Ridley Scott’s All the Money in the World in the wake of his alleged sex abuse scandal.
And the fans’ demands have sent Hollywood bosses into meltdown over fears the flick – now in post-production and due out in June – will be a flop.
“I guess Sony Pictures will soon be hiring Christopher Plummer to replace Liam Neeson in the upcoming Men In Black reboot?” one fan tweeted.
Another vented: “I really hope it’s not too late to digitally erase that racist f— Liam Neeson from the new Men In Black movie.”
A third fan wrote: “It’s gonna be so awkward seeing Liam Neeson in Men In Black: International.”
Neeson plays High T in the fourth instalment of Men In Black, the London-based head of an alien-hunting branch.
He appears in promotional posters for the film alongside co-stars Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson – prompting scores of memes mocking Neeson’s part in the role to fill the web.
Scandal-hit Spacey, 59, was replaced by actor Christopher Plummer in frantic reshoots of All The Money In The World at a cost of an extra $1 to $10 million.
A film industry source told Radar: “The fans’ calls for Liam’s scenes to be digitally erased or cut altogether from the film will be taken seriously by the studio as they have poured millions into it and do not want it to fail at the box office.”
“The Spacey case shows how easy it is to replace stars.”
Neeson was this week engulfed in scandal when he admitted during a promotional interview for his new revenge flick Cold Pursuit that he took a bat and walked the streets looking for a black man to slaughter after a loved one told him she had been raped.
He pulled out of appearing on the red carpet for the premiere of Cold Pursuit in the wake of being called racist over his revelation.
His absence came after attempts to explain his comments in a chat with Robin Roberts on Good Morning America were branded a “car crash.”
The 66-year-old Oscar nominee said: “I remembered an incident a few years ago where my friend was brutally raped. She handled the situation incredibly bravely and I had never felt this feeling before – it was a primal urge to lash out. After that there were some nights where I went deliberately out to black areas deliberately to be set upon so I could unleash physical violence and I did it four or five times.”
But he insisted: “I’m not racist – it was almost 40 years ago – I was brought up in Northern Ireland…There was a war going on and I had acquaintances involved… I grew up surrounded by that but I was never a part of it.”
Viola Davis was ‘terrified’ before sex scene with Liam Neeson
Liam Neeson: Hollywood sex misconduct allegations a ‘witch-hunt’
http://radaronline.com/exclusives/2019/02/liam-neeson-could-cut-men-in-black-racist-comments
http://torontosun.com/entertainment...m-men-in-black-reboot-after-shocking-comments

 

[Danbones]

No mention or sympathy for the rape part...Now that IS interesting.