“After that there were some nights when I went out deliberately into black areas in the city looking to be set upon so that I could unleash physical violence,” Mr. Neeson said. “And I did it for, I’d say, maybe four or five times.”The interviewer, Robin Roberts, who is African-American, gestured to herself and told Mr. Neeson, “You have to understand the pain of a black person hearing what you said.”Mr. Neeson replied: “You’re absolutely right, and at the time, even though it was 40 years ago, I didn’t think about that. All those things surprised me, but it was this primal hatred, I guess, that really, really shocked me when I eventually came down to earth and saw what I was doing — going out and looking for a fight.”The red carpet events on Tuesday, which would have exposed Mr. Neeson and his co-stars to reporters, cameras and more questions, were canceled hours before they were scheduled to begin, according to a spokesman for Lionsgate, which is distributing the film. The spokesman said Lionsgate would make no statement on Mr. Neeson’s remarks. The actor’s spokeswoman did not respond to requests for comment on Monday and Tuesday.

Source: New York Times February 05, 2019 23:30 UTC