The actor, 66, appeared on Good Morning America in New York and revealed he had sought help from a Catholic priest after spending a week prowling the streets with a cosh to murder a ‘black b*****d’. 

Neeson said he ‘understood’ the hurt his words had caused but insisted: ‘I’m not racist, this was 40 years ago. I had a primal urge. I was trying to show honour for a friend I dearly loved, in a medieval fashion’.

The star, who was later hugged and kissed by black audience members on the Live with Kelly and Ryan show, said he had gone to church when he became ‘scared’ and realised he had wanted to ‘unleash’ murder on a stranger for his friend, who he said died five years ago.

He said: ‘I did seek help. I went to a priest, who heard my confession’ and also later confided in two friends and would go out powerwalking for ‘two hours a day to get this [anger] out of me’.

GMA host Robins Roberts asked him if he ‘understood the pain of a black person’ hearing his words.

He replied: ‘Absolutely, you’re absolutely right. And at the time, even though this was nearly 40 years ago, I didn’t think about that. It was this primal hatred, I guess, that really shocked me, when I eventually came down to earth and saw what I was doing, looking for a fight’.

When asked how he would feel if his unnamed friend’s attacker was white he said: ‘If he was Irish, a Scot or Brit or a Lithuanian. I know I would have had the same reaction’. 

Neeson, whose critics have said he should be banned from the Oscars and making movies, said his anger came during the Troubles in Northern Ireland where murder was all around him. 

More than 1,000 people died in 30 years of conflict between mostly Protestants, who fought for Northern Ireland to remain part of the UK against mostly Catholics who wanted it to be part of the Republic of Ireland. 

Revenge: Liam Neeson (pictured leaving the GMA studio today) ignited a race row after revealing he walked the streets with a weapon looking for a ‘black b*****d’ to kill after a loved one ‘was raped’

He explained that this is why he chose to speak out about prowling the streets with a weapon and said: ‘Violence breeds violence. Bigotry breeds bigotry’. 

Describing what motivated him to try to attack a black man he told GMA: ‘Nearly 40 years ago when a very dear friend of mine was brutally raped and I was out of the country and when I came back she told me about it.

‘I had never felt this feeling before, which was a primal urge to lash out. I asked her did she know the person, and his race. She said he was a black man.

‘I thought ok and after that there were some nights I went out deliberately into black areas in the city, looking to be set upon so that I could unleash physical violence.

‘I did it for say, maybe four or five times until I caught myself and it really shocked me, this primal urge. It shocked me and it hurt me. Luckily no violence occurred’.

When asked about his friend he said: ‘She passed away by the way five years ago’. 

Today he said he spoke out now to encourage others ‘to talk, to open up, to talk about these things – we all pretend we’re all politically correct.

‘I mean, in this country it’s same in my own country too. You sometimes just scratch the surface and you discover this racism and bigotry and it’s there. 

‘I remember when we were shooting Schindler’s List in Poland 25 years ago and hearing remarks from drivers who were taking us to the set thinking to myself am I hearing this right? 

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