Liam Neeson, 66, said he once actively searched many years ago for a Black person to kill after finding out a friend was raped. The Taken star revealed the shocking racist revenge story during an interview with The Independent.

“There’s something primal—God forbid you’ve ever had a member of your family hurt under criminal conditions,” Neeson told the British publication.

“She handled the situation of the rape in the most extraordinary way,” he said. “But my immediate reaction was… I asked, did she know who it was? No. What colour were they? She said it was a black person."

The Irish-born actor explained that he hoped a "black bastard" would have antagonized him.

“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.”

Neeson said he regretted that moment in his life. He also admitted that it taught him to address emotional moments by asking, "What the f**k are you doing?"

Along with the interview, The Independent shared an op-ed from Kuba
Shand-Baptiste, a Black editor, who commended the Oscar nominee for sharing the story.

"For what it’s worth, I’m glad that Neeson was so forthcoming about this story that he 'never admitted' to anyone else," Shand-Baptiste wrote. "Because it has shed light on a phenomenon that too few understand and that we need to talk about."

Users on social media were not as forgiving. Several posts linked Neeson's biased thoughts to patterns of racism that lead to the death of Black people.

Click through the gallery below to see the reactions.

https://twitter.com/IamGMJohnson/status/1092467813556649984
https://twitter.com/aliciaadejobi/status/1092431471758008320?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1092431471758008320&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.usatoday.com%2Fstory%2Flife%2Fpeople%2F2019%2F02%2F04%2Fliam-neeson-reveals-shocking-racially-charged-past%2F2766111002%2F
https://twitter.com/jemelehill/status/1092463858172612610
https://twitter.com/juliacraven/status/1092463209439731712
https://twitter.com/HannahAlOthman/status/1092415672192327680
https://twitter.com/BizPears/status/1092424254514216960
https://twitter.com/NerdAboutTown/status/1092438273836888066
https://twitter.com/LisaMoorish/status/1092414314558955520
https://twitter.com/AyoCaesar/status/1092438089052708864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1092438089052708864&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.usatoday.com%2Fstory%2Flife%2Fpeople%2F2019%2F02%2F04%2Fliam-neeson-reveals-shocking-racially-charged-past%2F2766111002%2F