Liam Neeson has cancelled an upcoming TV interview, amid controversy over comments he made in a recent interview.
The Northern Irish actor had been scheduled to appear on Stephen Colbert’s US talk show on Friday night to discuss his upcoming turn in the black comedy Cold Pursuit.
However, as the conversation around the revelation that he once walked the streets looking to “kill’ a black man after learning his friend had been raped rages on, listings reveal that he has been replaced by Oscar nominee Glenn Close.
PA reports that it was the Taken star who pulled out of the interview.
Earlier this week, it was revealed that the red carpet premiere for the film had been cancelled just hours before it was scheduled to go ahead, due to the controversy.
Liam made headlines on Monday when an interview was published in the Independent, in which he said: “My immediate reaction [to learning his friend was raped] was… I asked, 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 ‘black bastard’ [two words which the newspaper refers to him as using air quotes as he said] would come out of a pub and have a go at me about something, you know? So that I could... kill him.”
Following this, he appeared on Good Morning America in an attempt to clear up the controversy, in which he insisted that he is “not racist”, adding: “If she’d have said an Irishman or a Scot or a Brit or a Lithuanian, I know it’d have had the same effect. I was trying to show honour and stand up for my dear friend in this terrible medieval fashion.
“I’m an intelligent guy and that’s why it shocked me when I came down to earth. Luckily, no violence occurred, ever. Thanks be to god.”