Actor Liam Cunningham supports Irish MMA star's victory taunts towards Israeli opponent
Actor Liam supports Irish MMA star's victory taunts
Belfast man Paddy Mc McCorry beat Israel's Shuki Farage at Cage Warriors recent 189 event in Rome with a unanimous decision.
As he pummelled the former Israeli soldier to the mat he shouted 'Free Palestine' into his face, and then draped himself with the Palestinian flag when he was declared victor, encouraging his supporters to again shout 'Free Palestine'.
The 27-year-old also posted on line pictures of Farage gleefully posing in his IDF uniform in a bombed out Gaza and captioned a posting of his win on X with the caption 'Street justice' followed by Irish and Palestinian flags.
'I saw the video,' Liam told the Sunday World yesterday.
'We don't encourage violence. But that's his way of expressing through his career what he wanted to say, but anybody that encourages violent types I've no time for.
Paddy McCorry
'I was happy it was publicised that he was shouting for a free Palestine, but I wouldn't be happy about using anger or violence against anybody even if they choose to use it.'
Dubliner Liam recently got involved in an online spat with another MMA star, Conor McGregor.
McGregor clashed with Cunningham over the Gaza-bound aid boat Madleen.
The Israel Defence Forces boarded and seized the vessel carrying 12 people, including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, which was attempting to enter Gaza and break a naval blockade.
The vessel had set sail from Sicily with the hopes of bringing much needed civilian aid to the region.
The Game of Thrones star was also involved in the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, revealing that those aboard were transporting items that Israel were not allowing inside Gaza such as crutches and baby formula and tweeted the crew were 'kidnapped'.
McGregor quickly responded to the actor's tweet on X, saying: 'I thought you were on this boat Liamo, what happened?.
'You forgot your goggles? You get seasick off the gargle? Bottler.'
Conor McGregor's comment
Liam retorted: 'Didn't know you could read and write Conor. Thought you used your hands to tap out.'
But when asked yesterday would he like to meet McGregor face to face to argue their points, he dismissed it out of hand.
'No interest in meeting him, no interest in talking to him, I'm indifferent to the man,' he stormed.
'I don't want to discuss him, he was just abusive, I put the ball back to him and I have no interest in even discussing him.'
Ironically Liam was on his way to Dublin's Garden of Remembrance, where McGregor made a much publicised video several weeks ago prior to a 'Irish freedom' anti-immigration march.
The actor yesterday joined several thousand protesters taking in a pro-neutrality rally and march.
'We have to speak up, as the old saying goes 'all that needs for evil to triumph is for good people to stay silent', I refuse to be silent,' he stresses.
He maintain he does not want to directly get involved in politics or electioneering.
'I much prefer to be acting and playing dress up and getting paid nicely for it. I find that my spare time is taken up with this now because people that should be speaking up aren't speaking up and they should be ashamed of themselves,' he fumes.
'It's a load of waffle with them, I have no time for them anymore. I heard all these weasel words, it's all weasel words.
'Just have a look. If they really cared they'd be doing something, anything, they're doing nothing.
Conor McGregor
'Take a lead in this. We are supposed to be neutral, which means we are supposed to be able to speak up for ourselves on foreign policy, so we need to stop doing business with them, at the very least stop doing business with them.'
He is also furious about the Central Bank dealing in Israeli bonds.
'And the Government shot it down, when we shouldn't be doing it because its money laundering, its money from Occupied Territories, which is profits made from the illegal occupation, so by putting it through war bonds they are actually money laundering, so the Central Bank is money laundering on behalf of Israel,' he argues.
He pleads with the public to do more.
'They need to write to their TDs, because the TDs are delighted because they are getting away with their bulls**t because nobody is standing up to them,' he insists.
'I have been doing it for 40 years but nobody took much notice of it because it wasn't until Game of Thrones that I was suddenly handed a platform, so there was a lot more people listening.'
He is concerned too about happenings in America.
'I know there's a big military march to celebrate his birthday, but there are a huge amount of protests happening across America,' he observes. 'The march to fascism happens when the people, the voters are silent. They are just beginning to realise what Trump really is.'
The star, who played Davos Seaworth in Game of Thrones, is also planning to soon resume acting.
'I'm about to start on series on season two of 3 Body Problem, from the producers and writers of Game of Thrones, and that's happening in about 10 days I head to head to Budapest to film that,' he adds.
Actor Liam Cunningham
News in 90 Seconds - 15th June 2025
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