Liam Neeson: Fans 'disgusted and disappointed' over actor's defence of comments about desire to kill black man

Liam Neeson attempted to clarify comments he made about once roaming the streets with a “cosh” wanting to “kill a black b*****d” after someone close to him was raped.

Following intense backlash for the comments he made to The Independent, he addressed his words during a Good Moring America segment – but people don’t think he actually apologised.

Speaking to the US breakfast show, Neeson told host Robin Roberts:

A lady journalist asked how I tap into that and I remembered an incident where a very dear friend of mine was brutally raped.

And I was out of the country. When I came back she told me about this. She handled the situation incredibly bravely. But I never felt this feeling before which was a primal urge to lash out. I asked her did you know the person. It was a man. His race? She said he was a black man.

I thought OK. And after that, some nights I went out deliberately into black areas in the city looking to be set upon so that I could unleash physical violence. I did it four or five times.

He told Roberts that he sought the help of a priest, spoke to friends and “power-walked” after hoping to be “set upon” by a black man.

"I'm not racist," he insisted.

For many, this was not the apology they were hoping for.

Model and LGBT+ activist Munroe Bergdorf made an important point about racism. Her argument being that, if what Neeson said isn't racist, what is?

Kelechi Okafor is 'disgusted and disappointed'.

Hadley Freeman pointed out that Neeson repeated his 'racist anecdote' during his GMA appearance.

The Independent's Music correspondent Roisin O'Connor argued that he didn't actually apologise.

A few people made that point actually...

Others revealed the timing of Neeson's comments - Trayvon Martin, who was a teenager when he was killed by a police officer - would have been 24-years-old today.

Football legend John Barnes went against the tide and said Neeson ‘deserves a medal’ for his honesty.

Barnes said that "as much as people are now jumping on this bandwagon of how terrible it is, what he has done is come out and he's told the truth".

He continued: "The big problem we have is when people are afraid to admit the way they actually feel..."

I have more respect for him now than if he had come out and said, 'I view all black people as equal, I just view everybody as equal'.

I always say, we are all unconscious racists," he said. "And he said, unconsciously for a week and a half, that's how he felt. We have people who have been doing it and keeping it quiet for 20 years, but as long as you don't admit it then we think everything is OK.

But other people are calling Neeson's admission, and the subsequent reaction from some of his supporters as the epitome of white privilege.

People also made an important point about role reversals.

And talked about apparent double standards, using Kevin Hart's recent controversy as an example.