Actress Michelle Rodriguez has spoken out in defense of Liam Neeson, her Widows co-star, saying he isn’t racist because of how he kissed Viola Davis in the film, according to Vanity Fair.
Rodriguez was at the AmfAR Gala in New York on Wednesday and said, “It’s all f***in’ bulls**t. Liam Neeson is not racist.”
“Dude, have you watched Widows?” The Fast and the Furious star asked. “His tongue was so far down Viola Davis’s throat. You can’t call him a racist ever. Racists don’t make out with the race that they hate, especially in the way he does with his tongue — so deep down her throat. I don’t care how good of an actor you are. It’s all bulls**t. Ignore it. He’s not a racist. He’s a loving man. It’s all lies.”
Neeson has been in the middle of a firestorm over comments he made in an interview with The Independent on Monday. The Cold Pursuit actor said he was sought revenge decades ago for a friend who told him she was raped by a Black man.
“I went up and down areas with a (crowbar), 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,” he said.
Neeson said he felt a “primal urge to lash out,” but after speaking to a priest and friends and began to exercise, the feeling passed. He was on Good Morning America Tuesday and said he is “not racist.”
The Cold Pursuit red carpet premiere was canceled earlier this week because of the backlash.
