In 1988, Mark Wahlberg, also known as Marky Mark, spent 45 days incarcerated for assaulting two Vietnamese Men. This weekend at the SAG awards, presenting the prize to the cast of “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” it seemed like we all forgot this particular part of his past.
Everything Everywhere All At Once is a film released this year that has swept the award ceremonies, receiving awards and nominations left, right, and center.
The predominantly Asian cast has broken records by becoming the most significant film winner at the SAG awards in its 29-year-long history.
The film reflects on the potential multiple world theories, where any universe is possible while holding on to domestic and intimate themes of a first-generation Asian American family trying to hold on to their family bond and shelter the personal relationship between mother and daughter.
Michelle Yeoh, the lead actress, won Best Actress at this year’s SAG awards. Jamie Lee Curtis also won an award for Best Supporting Actress and Ke Huy Quan for Best Supporting Actor – which makes Ke Huy Quan the first Asian actor ever to win this award.
The award that Mark Wahlberg presented was t the entire cast for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. The audience was perplexed by the organizers of the SAG award to choose Wahlberg, of all people, to present the award to the predominantly Asian cast.
It is no secret that a few racist encounters taint Wahlberg’s past. And by a few, we mean a relatively long list.
On one occasion, Wahlberg pleaded guilty to felony assault after attacking two Vietnamese men in Boston.
This occurred in 1988 when the victim Thanh Lam was rendered unconscious after Wahlberg attacked him with a 5-foot-long stick. Wahlberg was apparently under the influence of the PCP drug.
Wahlberg was also calling the man names, which legal filings report were ‘Vietnamese fucking shit.’
The same night, another report was filed claiming Wahlberg found another man named Hoa Trinh and assaulted him by punching him in the face.
Upon interrogation following the arrest of Wahlberg, reports by police also note that in his interrogation, Wahlberg continued to use racial remarks, which we refuse to repeat here.
Wahlberg was charged with attempted murder but pleaded guilty to assault, claiming that the attacks were not racially motivated but caused by his extreme intoxication under the influence of the PCP drug, a hallucinogenic drug.
This assault led him to two years of imprisonment because it was coupled with a history of him being charged with harassing Black children two years prior. The event that occurred reported him verbally abusing and throwing rocks at Black children in his neighborhood. A civil rights injunction on Wahlberg prohibited him from “threatening, assaulting, or intimidating anyone over their race or national origin.”
Wahlberg served only 45 days of jail out of his 2-year-long sentence. He applied for a pardon in 2014 and asked to have the record wiped since he claims he has become a better person and citizen.
Wahlberg claims he has since turned his life around in public interviews, and the appeal was dropped.
However, it still bothered many viewers at the SAG awards that Wahlberg was the chosen presenter for the award to the Everything Everywhere All At Once cast.
Many took to Twitter to express their confusion, disgust, and disappointment.
People have also compared it to a ‘worse awards show fuck up’ than the mix-up at the Oscars for Best Picture between La La Land and Moonlight in 2017.
Although it might be an attempt on behalf of Hollywood to repaint Wahlberg’s racist past in a more positive and inclusive light, perhaps some things are left behind. The cast of Everything Everywhere All At Once fully deserves the award and their moment to shine, and choosing such a person with such a past is a bit of an insensitive choice that overshadowed their moment of glory.
Better luck next time, SAG.
For more news on upcoming films, read here on Magic Mike’s cinematographic history.
