Liam Neeson: Full transcript of Good Morning America interview addressing racism scandal

Liam Neeson has spoken about comments he made to The Independent where he said he roamed the streets with a cosh, wanting to kill a “black bastard” after someone close to him was raped.

Today, he spoke to Good Morning America's Robin Roberts in an attempt to explain the comments which were met with international outrage.

Below is a full transcript of that conversation, edited for clarity.

:: Read the original, exclusive interview that started a global conversation

Roberts: First of all Liam, I really appriecate your willingness to have this discussion because when it comes to race, it can be very uncomfortable for people and it just caught people off guard how you responded when you were asked about revenge... and you will explain what you said…

Neeson: We were doing a press junket and the topic of the film is revenge, it's a dark comedy too, but its base is revenge. And the lady journalist was asking me "How do you tap into that?" and I remembered an incident, nearly 40 years ago, where 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 this.

She handled the situation incredibly bravely, but I had never felt this feeling before, which was a primal urge to lash out.

I asked her "Did you know the person?", it was a man... no. "His race?" She said he was a black man. I thought "Okay..." 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 four, maybe four or five, times until I caught myself and it really shocked me, this primal urge. It shocked me and it hurt me.

I did seek help. I went to a priest who heard my confession - I was raised a catholic. I had two very good friends that I talked to, and believe it or not… power walking. Two hours every day to get rid of this.

I'm not racist, this was nearly 40 years ago. But because I was brought up, maybe I’m rabbiting on Robin so forgive me. I was brought up in the north of Ireland and brought up in the Troubles, the 60s, 70s and early 80s...

Roberts: And can you explain to people what that is?

Neeson: There was a war going on in the north of Ireland and I had acquaintances who were involved in the Troubles, the bigotry… one catholic would be killed, the next day a protestant would be killed. One catholic pub would be bombed, a protestant pub would be bombed. I grew up surrounded by that, but I was never part of it.

Roberts: I appreciate your willingness to discuss and then to put it into context, and I know that you’ve heard the reaction from people. One response is the fact that when asking your friend, and I’m glad that she’s okay.

Neeson: She passed away.

Roberts: Oh I’m sorry for your loss. You asked about colour, you didn’t ask if the person was tall or short, big or small….

Neeson: I did actually. I asked all those questions too. I did, I did. But I did ask about race yeah.

Roberts: Because what we heard and saw it was only asking about colour… Would you have had the same reaction if your friend had said it was a white man? Would you have wanted to go out and kill?

Neeson: Oh definitely. If she had said an Irish or a Scot or a Brit or a Lithuanian, I know it would have had the same effect. I was trying to show honour and stand up for my dear friend in this terrible medieval fashion. And I’m a fairly intelligent guy and that’s why it shocked me when I came down to earth after having these horrible feelings. Luckily, no violence occurred ever, thanks be to God.

Roberts: Do you think you actually would have done it? If an innocent black man…

Neeson: Yes.

Roberts: …who had nothing to do with…

Neeson: Yeah I know, that was my feeling. I did want to lash out, yes, because my friend was brutally raped and I thought I was defending her honour, and I admit that. It’s a learning curve…

Roberts: So what is a teachable moment here? Because it doesn’t matter what you say, some people are going to be outraged, others would say "Well at least he’s admitting. He’s being honest that this is a feeling that some people have but never really acknowledge it." But what is the teachable moment here? What are you hoping people will learn from you making these statements?

Neeson: 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 the same in my own, sometimes you scratch the surface and discover this racism and bigotry, and it's there.

I remember when we were shooting Schindler’s List in Poland 25 years ago, 26 years ago almost, and hearing remarks from drivers who were taking us to the set and thinking to myself “am I hearing this right? This guy is making anti-Jewish comments to me who’s playing Oskar Schindler in the back of the car." It happened several times. Sometimes, driving to the set, we would see swastika signs painted on walls, knowing we were being driven past this area to go to set.

Roberts: What do we do? How do we have…

Neeson: You tell me, you tell me what the teachable moment is, please. I’m going to throw it back at you.

Roberts: I think the teachable moment is we have to own up to what we… the one point I want to make out is that this wasn't discovered by somebody, you admitted this, it isn't a 'gotcha', so I give you credit there, but also having to acknowledge the hurt, even though it happened decades ago, the hurt of an innocent black man knowing that he could have been killed for something he did not do because of the colour of his skin.

Neeson: Or they could have killed me too, at the time.

Roberts: But to get beyond it being a difficult conversation and understanding that we do need to get to the root of it, to stop just taking about it… I know that you’re getting crucified in many ways for saying what you did…

Neeson: Sure…

Roberts: And you’re not shying away, you’re admitting that it’s wrong, you’ve learned from that. But you have to also understand the pain of a black person hearing what you said.

Neeson: Absolutely, you're absolutely right. And at the time, even though this was nearly 40 years ago, I didn't think about that. All those things surprised me, but it was this primal hatred, I guess, that really really shocked me, when I eventually came down to earth and saw what I was doing, going out looking for a fight.

Roberts: It’s not the way… and that’s what the basis of your movie is too, it just goes on and on.

Neeson: Violence breeds violence, bigotry breeds bigotry.

Roberts: There’s no end when you do it like that. Liam Neeson, thank you. I know it’s not easy, I know, and I wish we could settle it all.

Neeson: See the movie, it’s a good movie by the way! Having said all that.

Roberts: It is dark, I’ll say that, it is dark. We will have a lot more of the movie tomorrow, but thank you for coming here as promised to have this discussion with us, it means a lot.