Former UK Soccer Player Defends Liam Neeson, Says Actor Deserves A Medal For Race Admission

Source: Sky News

Liam Neeson recently revealed in a new interview that he wanted to kill a black person after his friend told him she was raped by someone black.

Liam Neeson is still facing backlash after admitting that he wanted to kill "some black bastard" after his friend told him she was raped by someone black. However, someone has come to the Taken actor's defense.

Former UK soccer player John Barnes recently spoke with BBC Radio 5 Live host Emma Barnett, where he said he felt Neeson deserved a medal for his race admission.

"He's not ashamed and embarrassed now, he was ashamed a week into it," Barnes said of Neeson. "He understood that he was wrong for thinking what he did one week after thinking negative thoughts about all black people."

"For me, Liam Neeson deserves a medal and I'll tell you why," Barnes continues. "The majority of people have those widely held views on black [people]…based on what they've been wrongly told about them."

Born in Jamaica but moved to London when he was, Barnes was a professional soccer player whose career began in the '80s until the late '90s. In 2005, he was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame.

Neeson's controversial comments came about during a press junket for his new film Cold Pursuit. Neeson was asked about his Cold Pursuit character Nels Coxman, who exacts revenge on a drug gang after his son is killed.

“She handled the situation of the rape in the most extraordinary way,” Neeson said during an interview with the Independent. “But my immediate reaction was…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 [Neeson gestures air quotes with his fingers] ‘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 continued.

“It was horrible, horrible, when I think back, that I did that,” he said. “And I’ve never admitted that, and I’m saying it to a journalist. God forbid.”

Source: BBC Radio 5 Live