Samuel L. Jackson says he empathizes with Muslim Americans, who he believes have become the 'new black men' following recent terrorist attacks in France and California

Samuel L Jackson has claimed that Muslims are the new blacks of America because of how they are being persecuted.

The Pulp Fiction star, 67, said that the recent Islamist attacks in Paris and California meant that people saw it as a ‘legitimate reason’ to fear Muslims.

He said that he had hoped the California attacks were carried out by some ‘crazy white dude’ because they had damaged the perception of Muslims.

Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik killed 14 people and injured 21 others after they opened fire at the Inland Regional Center social services agency, where Farook worked.

Jackson spoke out as high profile incidents of Muslims being targeted in the US and the UK made headlines this month.

Attacks on American mosques are on the rise and leading Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump has called for a ban on all Muslims coming to the US.

Last week a British father claimed he was stopped from boarding a flight from Heathrow to Disneyland in Los Angeles with his nine children because of his religion.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Jackson said: ‘I can’t even tell you how much I really wanted (San Bernardino) to just be another, you know, crazy white dude, and not really some Muslims, because it’s like: ‘Oh, s***. It’s here’...

‘But now? It’s like they have a legitimate reason now to look at your Muslim neighbor, friend, whatever in another way. And they become the new young black men.’

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Jackson, pictured here in his most recent film The Hateful Eight, said when he first heard about the San Bernardino shooting he hoped the shooter would be 'just another crazy white dude'

Samuel L. Jackson celebrates his birthday at an event To Celebrate Quentin Tarantino and the cast and filmmakers of The Hateful Eight on December 21 (Jackson plays Major Marquis Warren in the film)

Jackson risks a backlash because he plays golf with Trump but in the interview he insisted there is ‘absolutely nothing I can do’ about his hate speech.

The actor added: ‘There are some other people that aren’t as open about what he’s saying that are running also, you know, that are just as crazy, that have just as much ill-will toward the common man - and not just the common black man.

Jackson also spoke out about police brutality, a topic that landed his frequent collaborator Quentin Tarantino into controversy earlier this month

‘People who don’t have a certain amount of money don’t mean anything to them.’

Jackson, who says he is 'forever a Democrat', plans to vote for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, despite his love for Bernie Sanders.

'Bernie's a man of the people - but he can't win,' Jackson told the magazine.

'So I gotta cast my vote for a person that can keep those other people from winning, okay?'

Jackson said he's also confident that with her experience, Hillary can 'hit the ground running' and bypass the 'huge learning-curve' he believes Obama and others have faced.

The actor, whose collective films have grossed more than $7.42billion in history, also touched on police violence in America, a subject that has gotten his frequent collaborator Quentin Tarantino in trouble recently.

A number of police groups said they would boycott Tarantino's newest film The Hateful Eight, which stars Jackson, after he attended an anti-police brutality rally in October and said he stood 'on the side of the murdered'.

Jackson said he believed a 'blue wall' was formed within the police force after many Vietnam veterans became 'boys in blue' after he said they were vilified upon their return to the US.

The actor said the same thing is happening now with veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq with PTSD.

'You've got people out there who are used to looking at people as "the enemy" because that's what it was - people were trying to kill them every day.'

'Not every cop in the world is guilty of that - there's good cops and there's bad cops. There's guys who misuse their authority and there are guys who watch 'em do it who want to do something but they can't, because they've gotta be part of that blue wall.'

Jackson said he doesn't believe the country will see any change until somebody begins 'policing from the inside out'.

'There's nothing we can do about it, even if they're wearing body-cams and we can see 'em,' he said.

'That's why every day you can look online and see somebody else getting shot, you can see somebody else getting killed - not just black people.'