Before he was an acclaimed actor, and before he was even Marky Mark,
Mark Wahlberg was convicted of what have been dubbed hate crimes. And even after his success,
a few more incidents have bubbled up, too.
In 1986, a 15-year-old Mark Wahlberg was hanging out with friends at Savin Hill Beach,
located in Dorchester, Massachusetts. After coming across a group of younger Black students on a
field trip, his crew verbally and physically attacked them with racist slurs and rocks,
according to The Guardian. While a nearby ambulance driver put a stop to the incident,
a civil rights injunction went onto Wahlberg's soon-to-be-growing rap sheet. The charge
meant he'd spend time behind bars should he be found guilty of a similar crime in the future.
Decades later, some of the victims recalled the
traumatic experience to AP News. One of the students, Kristyn Atwood, stated:
"It was a hate crime. And that's exactly what should be on [Wahlberg's] record forever."
Teacher Mary Belmonte noted:
"I was really scared. My heart was beating fast. I
couldn't believe it was happening. The names. The rocks. The kids chasing."
Wahlberg explained to Vanity Fair in 2011 that he wasn't proud that his actions were
those of a lost, unsupported teen who spent his time drinking, using drugs,
and skipping school to hang around with the wrong crowd.
Mark Wahlberg was involved in yet another racist hate-crime in 1988. This time, the high schooler
was convicted of assault against two Vietnamese men. According to sentencing documents obtained
by The Guardian, it started when the actor used a wooden pole to knock out the first man, Thanh Lam,
while yelling racial slurs. Wahlberg's goal was to steal the two cases of beer Lam had been
carrying. While attempting to hide from police, Wahlberg verbally attacked and punched a second
Vietnamese man, Johnny Trinh, in the eye after he refused to help the actor avoid the cops.
The 16-year-old Wahlberg was sentenced to two years in
one of Boston's most notorious prisons for assault, battery,
and violating the aforementioned civil rights injunction. He wound up only serving 45 days.
While Lam has never publicly discussed the incident,
Trinh expressed forgiveness toward Wahlberg in a 2015 interview with the Daily Mail.
Wahlberg claimed he was on a PCP high during the incident,
and told Vanity Fair that the repercussions he faced were a turning point in his life. Given
his history of racist hate crimes, there was an understandable backlash in 2023 when Wahlberg
was chosen to present a SAG Award to the mostly Asian cast of Everything Everywhere All at Once.
Mark Wahlberg has publicly stated multiple times
that he's sorry for the crimes he committed as a youngster.
"The day I woke up in prison, realized the mistakes I had made
and the pain that I had caused people, I committed to turning my life around."
Expressing his remorse for his past mistakes, he told The Guardian in 2020:
"[I] did the work. I took it upon myself to own up to my mistakes and go against the grain and
not be a part of the gang anymore — to say that I was going to go and do my own thing."
But as much as he's publicly repented, a Dorchester-based VietAid spokesperson told
The Hollywood Reporter in 2014 that Wahlberg never sat down with his victims or the larger
Asian community to express remorse. It's led some to believe that Wahlberg is only
worried about his Hollywood image. The actor applied for a Board of Pardons application,
which sought to expunge the 1988 conviction from his record. One apparent reason for seeking the
pardon was the ability to acquire licenses needed to run his Wahlburgers restaurants.
"'You're looking for a liquor license for restaurants and you can't get it
with a felony on your record?' 'Yes, we already have two restaurants open.'"
In response, the Asian American advocacy group 18 Million Rising questioned:
"Why should someone who has done nothing to support his
victims or atone for his crimes get a pardon?"
While Wahlberg ultimately revoked his petition amid the backlash in 2016,
he revealed that the situation allowed him to finally apologize to one of the victims in person.
While Mark Wahlberg is open about the steps he's taken to improve
himself following his troubled youth, he's continued behaving the same way
well into adulthood. At least twice in the early '90s — when the Boston native was in
his 20s — the rapper-turned-actor was accused of assaulting others.
In 1993, Wahlberg narrowly avoided additional criminal charges from an alleged incident in which
he reportedly kicked a man so hard he broke his jaw. According to AP News, the fight began after
the victim allegedly made racist comments about a member of the actor's entourage. The men settled
out of court, which led to all charges against Wahlberg being dropped before the trial began.
A year later, the artist formerly known as Marky Mark found himself involved in a brawl,
this time with members of Madonna's inner circle. According to ShortList, the fight took place at a
Los Angeles party, and The Fighter actor wound up breaking the nose of an unnamed
Maverick Records exec. Rumors say everything started when Wahlberg made a homophobic comment,
though he denied the allegation in a subsequent interview with The Advocate. Wahlberg further
claimed that Madonna called the police, making efforts to have him blacklisted in Hollywood.
But it seemed to have blown over, as he was soon cast in Renaissance Man.
While it's unclear whether Mark Wahlberg was actually guilty of making homophobic comments
back in 1994, it wasn't the only time the actor was accused of being less than supportive of
the LGBTQ+ community. Us Weekly reported that he was one of several A-list actors
to turn down a lead role in 2005's Brokeback Mountain. Wahlberg said in a 2007 interview:
"I met with [director] Ang Lee. […] I read 15 pages of the script and got a
little creeped out. It was very graphic, descriptive [...] It's just not my deal."
But he hasn't turned down every role he's been offered in an LGBTQ+ project. Wahlberg played
the conservative father of a bullied gay teen son in 2020's Joe Bell, much to the disdain
of the LGBTQ+ community, allies, and critics alike. Wahlberg said in an interview with GMA:
"I realized when I read the script, like, oh my God, as a parent, it was important for me
to be a part of this. Um, kind of figure out how to be able to listen to my children."
The Daily Beast pointed out Wahlberg's controversial history, writing:
"There are still those critics ... who find it obtuse to cast an actor with that past in
a movie that memorializes a gay teen's suicide with a message of inclusivity and acceptance."
The optics surrounding the 2020 movie Joe Bell wouldn't be the first time Mark Wahlberg was
accused of taking advantage of a situation to further his career. A few years prior,
he was working on All the Money in the World, a biographical crime drama about the kidnapping of
John Paul Getty III. After principal photography was completed, sexual assault allegations against
Kevin Spacey, who initially had a starring role in the film, began to circulate. It was decided
that the bulk of the 2017 movie should be re-shot with Christopher Plummer assuming Spacey's role.
It was initially reported that the project's other big stars — Wahlberg
and Michelle Williams — had agreed to do the eight-day reshoots for free,
as they were eager to distance themselves from Spacey. But USA Today revealed that Wahlberg
had quietly accepted a $1.5 million check for the reshoot while Williams pocketed less than
$1,000 for her additional work. Fans were outraged, claiming Wahlberg had allegedly
taken advantage of the situation to line his own pockets, without telling the full truth.
According to Deadline, Wahlberg announced following the backlash:
"I 100% support the fight for fair pay and I'm donating the $1.5 million to the
Time's Up Legal Defense Fund in Michelle Williams' name."
If you or a loved one has experienced a hate crime, contact the VictimConnect
Hotline by phone at 1-855-4-VICTIM or by chat for more information or assistance
in locating services to help. If you or a loved one are in immediate danger, call 911.