Liam Neeson's 2019 Racism Controversy Explained

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As you've probably noticed, Northern Irish actor Liam Neeson has been dominating the headlines over the last couple of weeks due to his reported romance with his The Naked Gun co-star Pamela Anderson.
Pretty much all of the discourse surrounding this new celebrity relationship has been overwhelmingly positive, with many people sharing their joy at Liam and Pamela finding one another. But amid all of this, Liam's widely forgotten racism controversy from 2019 has resurfaced, with some social media users expressing their confusion over how this has been overlooked by the general public.
Quote-tweeting a popular post about Liam and Pamela's romance that read: 'Can't think of two public people more deserving of private happiness given all they've both been through,' another X user wrote: 'I must be the only person that remembers Liam Neeson admitting he walked around for a week with a 'cosh' looking for a random black man to attack.''Remember when Liam Neeson said he just wanted to kill the first black person he saw because his friend was assaulted by one,' another tweeted in response to the reports.While somebody else wrote: 'Liam Neeson is propaganda I'm not falling for, I remember him saying he went outside looking for black people to kill 😭😭😭😭'So, here's a full recap of the controversy, which started in February 2019 when Liam sat down with the Independent in the middle of the promo tour for his movie Cold Pursuit.
'[Liam] is about to recount a disturbing incident from his past, a confession that he's never made before,' the profile begins. 'It will involve how he learnt about the rape of someone close to him many years ago, how he roamed the streets for a week afterwards carrying with him a cosh and brutal, racist thoughts, and how this taught him that violence and revenge do not work.'
And Liam was discussing his character in the movie when he made the decision to share a troubling anecdote from his real life. He told the publication: 'There's something primal — God forbid you've ever had a member of your family hurt under criminal conditions… I'll tell you a story. This is true.'He then recalled coming back from a trip overseas 'some time ago' and learning that one of his friends had been raped. 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 color 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,' he went on.
'It took me a week, maybe a week and a half, to go through that,' Liam added at the time: 'She would say: 'Where are you going?' and I would say: 'I'm just going out for a walk.' You know? 'What's wrong?' 'No, no, nothing's wrong.'''It was horrible, horrible, when I think back, that I did that,' he concluded. 'And 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?'
The following month, Liam issued an apology for what he described as an 'impulsive recounting' of an incident from decades ago. In a statement, he said: 'Over the last several weeks, I have reflected on and spoken to a variety of people who were hurt by my impulsive recounting of a brutal rape of a dear female friend nearly 40 years ago and my unacceptable thoughts and actions at that time in response to this crime.'
'The horror of what happened to my friend ignited irrational thoughts that do not represent the person I am,' the statement continued. 'In trying to explain those feelings today, I missed the point and hurt many people at a time when language is so often weaponized and an entire community of innocent people are targeted in acts of rage.''What I failed to realize is that this is not about justifying my anger all those years ago, it is also about the impact my words have today,' Liam added. 'I was wrong to do what I did. I recognize that, although the comments I made do not reflect, in any way, my true feelings nor me, they were hurtful and divisive. I profoundly apologize.'
In May 2022, more than three years after the interview, Liam shocked people when he addressed the controversy during a cameo appearance in the Donald Glover TV series Atlanta. In the episode 'New Jazz,' Brian Tyree Henry's character 'Paper Boi' meets Liam, who is playing himself, at a bar called Cancel Club. In the scene, Liam says: "You may have heard about my transgression.'
He then recounts what happened in 2019, before saying of his past actions: 'I acted out of anger. I look back now, and it honestly frightens me. I thought people knowing who I once was made clearer who I am, who I have become… But with all that being said, I am sorry. I apologize if I hurt people.'Paper Boi then says: 'It's good to know that you don't hate Black people now,' and Liam replies: 'No, no, no, I can't stand the lot of ya… I feel that way because you tried to ruin my career. Didn't succeed, mind you. However, I'm sure one day I will get over it, but until then, we are mortal enemies.'
At this point, Paper Boi suggests that Liam hadn't learned his lesson, and Liam agrees: 'Aye. I also learned the best and worst part about being white is you don't have to learn anything if you don't want to.'
In April 2023, Donald Glover admitted that Liam was originally reluctant to do the cameo, and turned the role down at first.Speaking to GQ, Donald said that Liam told him he was 'trying to get away' from the racism controversy. He explained: 'When I got in touch with him, Liam poured his heart out. He was like: 'I am embarrassed. I don't know about this. I'm trying to get away from that.'''I was like: 'Man, I'm telling you, this will be funny! And you'll actually get a lot of cream from it because it'll show you're sorry,'' Donald went on, but Liam still rejected the opportunity before eventually being talked round.
Liam has not made any public statements about the controversy since the Atlanta episode.