Liam Neeson\'s movie red carpet event scrapped after revenge remarks

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The New York celebrity red carpet event on Tuesday (February 5) for actor Liam Neeson's new film "Cold Pursuit" has been canceled in the wake of an interview in which Neeson said he wanted to kill a black man in response to the rape of a friend who said her attacker was black.

Movie studio Lionsgate declined to comment but a source familiar with the matter said that a red carpet, where movie stars pose for photos and speak with reporters, would be inappropriate.

Responding to the backlash his comments had drawn, the 66-year-old Irish star told the U.S. television network ABC's "Good Morning America" on Tuesday that "I'm not a racist." On Monday (February 4), Neeson told the British newspaper The Independent that he related to characters in his movies such as "Taken" who seek revenge when someone close to them is hurt.

He said a female friend told him decades ago that she had been raped by a man who was black.

On Tuesday, Neeson told "GMA" that he had felt a "primal urge to lash out" at the time.

Neeson said no violence occurred.

He said he would have been looking for a white man if his friend had identified her attacker as white.