During an appearance on the US talk show Good Morning America, Liam Neeson addressed the backlash that surfaced after he revealed he had once walked the streets with a weapon, hoping to be approached by a “black bastard”, that he intended to kill in the wake of finding out about a close friend’s rape.

His original comment came from an interview published yesterday in The Independent, that detailed a discussion of his newest film, Cold Pursuit.

The comments were both shocking and appalling, sparking an influx of criticism from the public concerning the racially charged aspect of Neeson’s anecdote.

In response to the backlash, he said, "We were doing a press junket and the topic of the film is revenge, it's a dark comedy too, 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 it.

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

He continued, "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 was shocking."

Though he recognises that both his thoughts and behaviours were unacceptable, Neeson also defended himself on the talk show. "I'm not racist, this was nearly 40 years ago,” he said.

When one of the show’s hosts, Robin Roberts, asked what he hopes people will learn from his admission, he said, "To talk, to open up, to talk about these things, we all pretend we're all politically correct, I mean, in this country and same in my own, sometimes you scratch the surface and discover this racism and bigotry, and it's there."

Roberts pointed out that one of the teachable moments was “Having to acknowledge the hurt, even though it happened decades ago, knowing an innocent black man could have been killed..."

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

Roberts urged Neeson to "understand the pain of a black person" in light of the widespread distribution of The Independent interview.

In response, he said, "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 shocked me, when I eventually came down to earth and saw what I was doing, looking for a fight."