Liam Neeson latest: Men in Black fans threaten ‘boycott’ unless 'racist' star is scrapped from film

The Taken actor stars alongside Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson
Emma Powell7 February 2019
The Weekender

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Fans are calling for Liam Neeson’s Men in Black scenes to be scrapped in the wake of his shock admission that he once wanted to “kill a black b******”.

Neeson confessed to prowling the streets with a “cosh” for a week to seek revenge after his friend was raped by someone of the same race some 40 years ago.

The Taken actor, who made the comments during an interview with the Independent to promote his latest film Cold Pursuit, insisted he is “not racist” and told Good Morning America that he is “ashamed” of his “primal urge” to be violent.

His response failed to calm the backlash, with many calling for him to be scrapped from the upcoming multimillion pound Men in Black International, which also stars Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson.

“If they can magically de-age every actor in the MCU [Marvel Cinematic Universe], they can digitally replace Liam Neeson in MIB and they should,” one Twitter user posted.

Another wrote: “Uhm so we need to boycott MIB internacional bc Liam Neeson is racist?”

A third tweeted: “Was really excited for Men in Black: International with @chrishemsworth & @TessaThompson_x. Was 1 of my most anticipated films for 2019. Hated his casting before the horrifying controversy, but now really hope it’s not too late to digitally erase racist f*** Liam Neeson from it…”

A source told The Sun that Neeson could be erased in the same way Kevin Spacey was from All The Money in the World. He was replaced by Christopher Plummer in last minute reshoots.

“Mounting pressure on Neeson to be axed won’t go unnoticed,” they said.

“There is a lot of pressure to make the reboot work without the biggest stars of the original movie involved so any negative link will be severely unwanted.

“What happened with All The Money In The World shows leading roles can be erased if need be.”

The fourth instalment of the sci-fi franchise will be the first without original stars Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones. It is slated for release in June.

Standard Online has contacted representatives for Neeson for comment.

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