{"id":7892,"date":"2019-02-07T11:54:55","date_gmt":"2019-02-07T16:54:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/?p=7892"},"modified":"2019-02-07T11:54:55","modified_gmt":"2019-02-07T16:54:55","slug":"liam-neeson-megyn-kelly-roseanne-honest-conversations-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2019\/02\/liam-neeson-megyn-kelly-roseanne-honest-conversations-race.html","title":{"rendered":"Liam Neeson&#8217;s honest conversation on rage and race is met with scorn"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Here&#8217;s the latest dispatch from the crossroads of faith and culture:<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Liam Neeson denies he&#039;s racist after shocking interview\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7SqFnBsHoz0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>So, here&#8217;s what Liam Neeson actually said while promoting <em>Cold Pursuit<\/em>, a movie about a guy bent on revenge against drug dealers he blames for the death of his son (as reported by Cl\u00e9mence Michallon for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/arts-entertainment\/films\/features\/liam-neeson-interview-rape-race-black-man-revenge-taken-cold-pursuit-a8760896.html\">The Independent<\/a>: <em>\u201cThere\u2019s something primal \u2013 God forbid you\u2019ve ever had a member of your family hurt under criminal conditions,\u201d &#8230;\u201cI\u2019ll tell you a story. This is true.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n<p>(He goes on to recount how an unnamed friend told him of her brutal rape.) <em>\u201cShe handled the situation of the rape in the most extraordinary way,\u201d Neeson says. \u201cBut my immediate reaction was\u2026\u201d There\u2019s a pause. \u201cI asked, did she know who it was? No. What colour were they? She said it was a black person.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cI went up and down areas with a cosh, hoping I\u2019d be approached by somebody \u2013 I\u2019m ashamed to say that \u2013 and I did it for maybe a week, hoping some [Neeson gestures air quotes with his fingers] \u2018black bastard\u2019 would come out of a pub and have a go at me about something, you know? So that I could,\u201d another pause, \u201ckill him.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"ad-wrapper ad-wrapper--mobile ad-wrapper--mpu0\">\n<div id=\"teads-amp-ad\" class=\"ad-wrapper ad-wrapper--mobile\"><em>\u00a0<\/em><em>Neeson clearly knows what he\u2019s saying, and how shocking it is, how appalling.\u00a0\u201cIt took me a week, maybe a week and a half, to go through<\/em> <em>that. She would say, \u2018Where are you going?\u2019 and I would say, \u2018I\u2019m just going out for a walk.\u2019 You know? \u2018What\u2019s wrong?\u2019 \u2018No no, nothing\u2019s wrong.\u2019\u201d&#8230;<\/em><\/div>\n<div class=\"ad-wrapper ad-wrapper--mobile\">\n<em>\u201cIt was horrible, horrible, when I think back, that I did that,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd I\u2019ve never admitted that, and I\u2019m saying it to a journalist. God forbid.\u201d&#8230;<\/em><\/p>\n<div id=\"taboola-carousel-thumbnails\" class=\"ad-wrapper ad-wrapper--inline-taboola ad-wrapper--mobile\">\n<em>\u201cIt\u2019s awful,\u201d Neeson continues, a tremble in his breath. \u201cBut I did learn a lesson from it, when I eventually thought, \u2018What the fuck\u00a0are you doing,\u2019 you know?\u201d&#8230;<\/em><\/div>\n<p><em>\u201cI come from a society \u2013 I grew up in Northern Ireland in the Troubles \u2013 and, you know, I knew a couple of guys that died on hunger strike, and I had acquaintances who were very caught up in the Troubles, and I understand that need for revenge, but it just leads to more revenge, to more killing and more killing, and Northern Ireland\u2019s proof of that. All this stuff that\u2019s happening in the world, the violence, is proof of that, you know. But that primal need, I understand.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Now, to me, I&#8217;m hearing a guy who, thankfully, didn&#8217;t actually carry out the inclinations he is clearly ashamed of ever having. How are we ever going to have that &#8220;honest conversation about race&#8221; we&#8217;re told we should be having when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/entertainment\/liam-neeson-fans-call-for-him-to-be-digitally-removed-from-men-in-black-international-after-racist-comments\">we set out to destroy the career of someone<\/a> who is remorsefully honest.\u00a0 Honest conversations require at least some degree of understanding and mercy. Has it not been said &#8220;Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"connatix\"><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here&#8217;s the latest dispatch from the crossroads of faith and culture: So, here&#8217;s what Liam Neeson actually said while promoting Cold Pursuit, a movie about a guy bent on revenge against drug dealers he blames for the death of his son (as reported by Cl\u00e9mence Michallon for The Independent: \u201cThere\u2019s something primal \u2013 God forbid&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":225,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,1085,24],"tags":[9367,9368,9366,9365],"class_list":["post-7892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-forgiveness","category-movies","tag-clemence-michallon","tag-cold-pursuit","tag-liam-neeson","tag-the-independent"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Liam Neeson&#039;s honest conversation on rage and race is met with scorn<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2019\/02\/liam-neeson-megyn-kelly-roseanne-honest-conversations-race.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Liam Neeson&#039;s honest conversation on rage and race is met with scorn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here&#8217;s the latest dispatch from the crossroads of faith and culture: So, here&#8217;s what Liam Neeson actually said while promoting Cold Pursuit, a movie about a guy bent on revenge against drug dealers he blames for the death of his son (as reported by Cl\u00e9mence Michallon for The Independent: \u201cThere\u2019s something primal \u2013 God forbid&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2019\/02\/liam-neeson-megyn-kelly-roseanne-honest-conversations-race.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Faith, Media &amp; Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-02-07T16:54:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John W. 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Kennedy","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/e5d5ef9caeb6b01bcbf08ca6de6591c2","name":"John W. Kennedy","description":"John W. Kennedy is the founder and Dir. of Development of The Creative Universe Entertainment\u2122, a media consultation and development company focusing on the creation, development and support of high-quality mainstream entertainment that upholds positive timeless values, including trust in God. Current projects include \"Bryant Park\" (an uplifting romantic-comedy) and \"Photo Finish\" (an award-winning sci-fi TV pilot). He has written over 100 children's novels based on episodes of the Cartoon Network series \"Ben 10\", \"Ben 10: Alien Force\", \"Ben 10: Ultimate Alien\", \"Ben 10: Omniverse\" and \"Generator Rex\" among others. He also writes Beliefnet\u2019s \"Faith, Media &amp; Culture\" blog. Previously, he has produced successful news and talk programming for CNN, Fox News, Pax TV and SiriusXM. Specialties: Script Writing, Movie\/TV Novelizations &amp; Adaptations, TV Content Creation and Development, Creative Consultation, Producing and Booking News and Talk shows. He can be reached for writing, producing and consulting services at 516-640-1182.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/author\/jkennedy"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/225"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7892"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7895,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7892\/revisions\/7895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}