Lily Allen has hit out at Liam Neeson after the actor made controversial comments about a past desire to commit a racist murder to avenge a friend who was raped.
Earlier this week, the Taken star hit headlines when he revealed his reaction after discovering that the attacker of his friend was black.
“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’ would come out of a pub and have a go at me about something, you know? So that I could kill him,” said Neeson.
He added: “It took me a week, maybe a week and a half, to go through that. She would say, ‘Where are you going?’ and I would say, ‘I’m just going out for a walk.’ You know? ‘What’s wrong?’ ‘No no, nothing’s wrong.’”
Neeson further admitted that it was “horrible, horrible” to make the racist assumption and that he was ashamed of his seemingly violent impulse.”
Introducing the single ‘Fuck You’, which features the lyrics “You’re just some racist who can’t tie my laces. Your point of view is medieval“, Allen told the Sydney crowd last night: “Normally, I dedicate this song to Donald Trump, but tonight I’m dedicating it to Liam Neeson.”
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Responding on Instagram Stories after the gig, Allen said: “I don’t believe Liam Neeson’s racist anecdote, which makes it even more disgusting.
“I don’t know a woman who hasn’t been harassed and I have NEVER heard of an instance where a man has actually gone out to defend her honour. It just doesn’t happen.”
Yesterday, Neeson spoke out to defend himself against claims of racism.
“I’m not racist, this was 40 years ago,” he said on Good Morning America. ”I was brought up in the north of Ireland. The Troubles. The ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s. There was a war going on in the north of Ireland. I had acquaintances who were involved in the trouble. The bigotry. One Catholic would be killed, the next day a protestant would be killed. I grew up surrounded by that, but I was never surrounded by it.”
He added: “We all pretend we’re all politically correct. But sometimes you just scratch the service and you discover this racism and bigotry, and it’s there.”
This comes after football icon John Barnes claimed that Liam Neeson “deserves a medal” for his comments.