Liam Neeson insists that he's not racist after revealing that he had once wanted to kill a black

Hollywood star Liam Neeson said on Tuesday that he was not "racist" after confessing to having decided to attack a black man at random after one night. her friends told her that she had been raped.

"I" I'm not a racist, "said Neeson on ABC News, while admitting to having felt a" primary need to take it to him "about 40 years ago, after learning from her close friend that she was attacked by a black man.

The 66 The 25-year-old Schindler's channel sparked an international reaction by telling her story in an interview with the British newspaper The Independent this week.

In damage-mitigation mode on Good Morning America, the North Irish actor of the ABC explained the incident

"I went deliberately into the black areas of the city, seeking to be badaulted to unleash physical violence, "recalled Neeson." I did it four, maybe four or five times until I caught myself and it shocked me. really, this need is paramount. "

While he says that no violence has occurred eventually produced, Neeson said that he had asked for the help of a Catholic priest, talked to friends, and walked for hours to get rid of this episode.

But he also insisted that race was not the determining factor of his actions.

"If she had said an Irishman, a Scotsman, a Briton or a Lithuanian, I know it would have had the same effect," he told ABC. "I was trying to show honor and defend my dear friend from this terrible medieval way."

By way of explanation, he cited his growing experience in Northern Ireland, at the time locked up in a murderous cycle of sects violence opposing Catholics to Protestants

Neeson's first revealed the incident to The Independent in an interview to promote his new thriller Cold Pursuit, about a father seeking revenge after the murder of his son by a drug gang.

he talked about "hoping that a black bastard would come out of a pub and would try something, you know, so that I could … kill him" . "

Neeson's acting career lasted five decades and included Taken – a former CIA agent who was trying to track down his kidnapped daughter [20089004] With his own revelations threatening to derail his career, Neeson has pleaded for his story to be taken as part of a broader series of honest debate on race relations. [19659004] "We all claim that we are all politically correct," he said. "Sometimes we scratch the surface and we discover this racism and fanaticism, and it's there."

'Merit a medal & # 39;

Many reactions were undoubtedly overwhelming.

Charles Blow, an An African-American columnist for The New York Times, asked on Twitter if a black actor could have gotten away with the same thing: "Will Will Smith admit to having tracked down the streets Los Angeles for a whole week in search of white men at random "

Kovie Biakolo, African-American news editor of the BuzzFeed news site, noted a similarity between Neeson's desire to confront each other violently with a black man and the badbadination by George Zimmerman of an unarmed black teenager, Trayvon Martin, Florida

"We are celebrating today the birthday of Trayvon and j & # 39; I had an idea: how far is Liam Neeson from George Zimmerman, that made me think, "she wrote on Twitter. 19659004] Former England foo John Barnes, who has been a victim of racist abuse during his career, said the actor "deserved a medal" for speaking honestly.

Barnes, who is black, told Sky News that Neeson had reacted as he did because "it's what society has shown him, that blacks do, Muslims do -" is what society has wrongly shown him, which is what the media wrongly described to him. "