Former England footballer John Barnes has defended actor Liam Neeson over his admission that he once thought about "killing" a black person.
In an interview with The Independent, the Irish actor spoke of his shame for having the thoughts after someone close to him said she was raped by a black person.
The 66-year-old said he walked around for about a week after she told him what happened, armed with a cosh and hoping, "some 'black b******' would come out of a pub and have a go at me about something [...] so that I could ... kill him."
Neeson said it was "horrible, horrible, when I think back, that I did that."
“It’s awful, but I did learn a lesson from it, when I eventually thought, ‘What the f**k are you doing,’ you know?”
He said "something primal" can happen to a person when they have family members hurt under criminal conditions and said that while he understand the primal need for revenge, "it just leads to more revenge, to more killing and more killing."
File photo of Irish actor Liam Neeson, 12-01-2017. Image: Laura Hutton/PA Wire/PA Images
Medal
The interview has sparked outrage around the world since it was published yesterday - however, footballer John Barnes has spoken out in support of the Belfast actor this afternoon.
In an interview with Sky News the Liverpool football legend, one of many players to suffer racial abuse on the pitch, said Neeson deserves a medal for his honesty.
Football legend @officialbarnesy has told Sky News he thinks actor Liam Neeson 'deserves a medal' for his honesty about once having violent thoughts about "killing" a black person.
Read the full story here: https://t.co/7jgA6zVH55 pic.twitter.com/kOZgFRQOis
— Sky News (@SkyNews) February 5, 2019
He noted that Neeson was talking about the subject of revenge, explaining why "revenge doesn't do anyone any good."
"He mentioned that being brought up in Northern Ireland, he knows how destructive that can be," he said.
"If you listen to everything he is talking about, he is talking about in the moment - and you can't blame Liam Neeson for thinking what he feels because this is what - and this is while ago - this is what society has shown him that black people do, Muslims do," he said.
"This is what society has wrongly shown him, this is what the media have wrongly portrayed to him.
"He went on to say he was ashamed and horrified by the way he felt.
"He's not ashamed and horrified at wanting to commit the act of revenge, he's ashamed and horrified because that is what he thought about all black people.
"After a week, he realised he was wrong. That is what he said, 'I am ashamed and horrified about what I felt.'"
Barnes said the story had since been "spun" and said the interview needed to be heard in context.
Unconscious racism
He said the same people that view former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill as a hero despite his own racists views are now "pillorying" Neeson for thoughts he held for one week many years ago - despite his admission that he was wrong.
He 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."
"The big problem we have is when people are afraid to admit the way they actually feel," he said.
"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 okay."
He said Neeson was the victim of a "witch hunt."
