Loose Women panellists Nadia Sawalha and Janet Street-Porter accused Liam Neeson of being “obviously racist” after he admitted he once looked for a black person to "kill" in revenge, after someone close to him was raped.
Former EastEnders star Sawalha, 54, said: “It’s obviously racist, there’s no grey area. I am so shocked, I still can’t quite believe it, if we hadn’t heard it I wouldn’t have believed this of him, I’m horrified.”
She added that while she isn’t supportive of bans, she is adamant the comments will impact Neeson’s Hollywood career.
“I don’t believe in banning and censorship but I think it will be career-ending, I can’t see studios employing him,” she said.
Street-Porter added that his comments "sound like something from a film" that a villain would say, branding them "disgusting."
The actor insisted he is "not racist" and that he "sought help" after the episode.
"The topic of a film is a dark comedy but its base is revenge and the lady journalist was asking me how I tap into that and I remember an incident nearly 40 years ago where a dear friend of mine was brutally raped," he said, recalling the context of his comments.
"She told me and she handled the situation incredibly bravely but I had 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. No. His race? She said he was a black man, I thought OK.
"Then after that I went out deliberately into black areas in this city looking to be set upon so I could unleash physical violence and I did it maybe four or five times until I caught myself on and it really shocked me, this primal urge I had."
Neeson went on to explain that he dealt with those impulses by turning to his priest and close friends.
He added that he would have “reacted the same” if it have been a white man who had raped his friend.
