I read about this yesterday on the AV Club in an article that was hyper-critical of Neeson. I thought it was an honest sharing of a personal story from a 66 year-old bloke recounting some racist feelings from earlier in his life that he now regrets and has grown past. I don’t think it’s fair to rake him over the coals for this and I was surprised and glad to see that folks in the comments section seemed to agree.
Edit: Just as we seem to be doing here… I mean, if Nesrie isn’t pissed… ;)
Yeah, I saw that bit and my first thought was, “What the hell is a cosh? Some type of club?” and it is apparently. But then I recognized that he knew all of this was wrong and sincerely regrets his actions, realizing how lucky he was not to have found anyone that night.
To admit that someone felt capable of becoming a murderer yeas ago, and the intent to murder someone who wasn’t even guilty just of a certain race, that’s a hard one. That’s a really hard one. Going public with it, even harder. I don’t see why this would sink him. He has a demon in his closet that he knows about it, and he’s not really excusing it either. Maybe others can use him as an example.
I agree with all of the above. I think Neeson struggles with what he did 40 years ago. I dont think he should be “deleted” or whatever the kids say.
That said, it was really weird to pop out this story, unprompted, during what should’ve been a softball press junket for his next generic action movie. It would be a shame if this screws his career up.
Yeah, I’ve got no issue with this. It takes a lot of guts to come forward with something like this and I can’t really think of any motivation to do so unless it’s just been something that’s eating you up inside and you need to get it off your chest. And if it’s eating you up, you’ve clearly realized how wrong it was and have improved as a human being.
You’re right, though it really shouldn’t be so weird to say something personal, honest, and substantive during an interview. Even a press junket type of interview. That’s why this getting drummed up as a controversy is so galling to me.
I don’t think it’s getting “drummed up” as a controversy. It’s controversial. Neeson admited that 40 years ago he reacted to a rape by trying to incite a fight with a random black person so he could kill them. There’s no way that wasn’t going to be an issue for some people.
I think this has kept him up nights. It’s pretty horrific, but we need to forgive people engaged in a genuine attempt to change themselves for the better, particularly when it’s not an “I’m sorry… that I got caught” apology.
It’s also easier in a case like this, where he didn’t go through with it. The evil bits didn’t win, but he’s still processing the fact that they could have.
He’s going to take a few lumps for a little while but I don’t think it’s going to sink him.
This, from his later interview:
Roberts pushed back, pointing out that Neeson “asked about color. You didn’t ask if the person was tall or short, big or small. You immediately went to race.”
The actor conceded that, but said he did ask those other questions of his friend who he said has since died.
He said he would have had the same reaction had his friend said her rapist was white.
I think that’s bullshit. He was just going to up and murder the first white guy he saw… does he really think that would be his first reaction? I doubt it. Sounds like he will need to struggle with this for a little longer.
You’re right that it’s controversial, but the article I read yesterday, I felt, was quote unquote drumming it up. Outrage culture, media clicks, and all that kind of thing. Here it is…
Even the title and list-of-questions angle is sarcastic and glib. And I usually like their writing.
Reading the follow-up interview with him, it seems to be very clearly an episode in his life that he regrets, and has moved past.
Honestly, I feel the outrage (at least what I’ve seen) is overblown. He did not actually do anything, after all. Yes, he says that he went out with the intent to kill, and yes - his logic for doing so was morally indefensible, but at the end of the day he didn’t do it. No matter how abhorrent the act, thinking of doing something is not a crime.
I thinking this is probably going to sink Neeson and it’s mostly going to due to differences in cultural context. He still “thinks Irish” and this statement reflects contexts and perspectives that aren’t going to carry over and that’s probably what’s going to end his career.
I do remember though in Dublin one tour guide humble bragging about getting stabbed in a bar fight during his “interesting life” spiel, another bragging about his son in the army and how his granddad helped the IRA, and another spitting about how the Northern Irish are still no good when the crowd wasn’t looking. This dramatic and violent ways of thinking won’t be understood by the rest of the world anymore, and Neeson being a “lad” up to some dark thinking isn’t going to get much sympathy (even as the real context about the rape gets lost).
I think Terry Crews said it best.
Terry Crews really said that? It’s pretty spot on, I think.
Terry Crews remains awesome. Except that Crackdown 3 thing. Wtf is that?
What’s not to like? He gets to be the main character in a videogame where you blow tons of shit up. He got into gaming to connect with his kids, seems noble to me.
He grew up in Northern Ireland in the 50s and 60s. Even today, it’s a place that’s over 98% white. You can probably imagine the views on minorities back then.
All we can do is grow, and hopefully the right way.
Mostly I was just joking, but man, that ad is terrible. I mean, I’ll still play it (Game Pass ftw!), but the ad is cringe-inducing.
I’ll say again something I said somewhere else. Mark Wahlberg savagely beat and severely injured a man for reasons that I have never seen disputes were racist.
It would be appalling to me if Liam Neeson is punished for his honesty regarding this while no one bats an eye at Mark Wahlberg.
Absolutely racist, and he served time for that and has a felony record to go along with it. That’s also not his only violent incident.