ONTD Original: a timeline of gross things Marky Mark has done
Follow up to this post.
In light of some of the surprised Pikachu faces from non-ONTDers after Marky Mark's violent and racist past came to the attention of the media AGAIN thanks to SAG's brilliant idea to have him present the award for best movie ensemble to the cast of Everything Everywhere All at Once aka a group of Asian actors, I did some googling to see what I could find beyond the basic info that ONTD already knows about the crimes listed on his Wikipedia page.
Incidents #1 & #2
In June 1986, three Black children were walking home from school. Wahlberg and two of his friends began following them on their bikes. One of the perpetrators told the Black children, "We don't like n***** so get the fuck away.” Mark and his friends began chasing the children while yelling, "Kill the n*****!" and throwing rocks at them.
The next day, Wahlberg and the same two friends followed a group of mostly 9 and 10 year old Black fourth-graders (including one of the victims from the previous day) taking a field trip at the beach. They yelled racial epithets, threw rocks (hitting two of the girls), and "summoned other white males who joined" in the harassment.
In August 1986, a civil suit was filed against Wahlberg for violating the civil rights of his victims, and the case was settled the next month. A condition of the court case prohibited him from assaulting, threatening, intimidating, harassing, causing or attempting injury or damage to a person or their property due to their race, color, or national origin.
Incidents #3 & #4
In April 1988, Thanh Lam was walking from his car to his house with two cases of beer. Wahlberg called him "a Vietnam fucking shit" and then hit him in the head with a five foot long wooden stick, knocking him unconscious. He hit the victim so hard that the three inch thick stick broke into two pieces. The victim was hospitalized after the attack. When the police arrested him, Wahlberg said, "You don't have to let him identify me. I'll tell you now that's the motherfucker whose head I split open."
Later that night, Wahlberg attacked Hoa Johnny Trinh, another Vietnamese-American. Wahlberg ran up to Trinh, put his arm around his shoulder, and said, "Police coming, let me hide." After a police car passed them, Wahlberg punched Trinh in the eye so hard that the victim fell to the ground. When the police arrived, Wahlberg made several unsolicited comments about "g**ks" and "slant-eyed g**ks."
His explanation for the assaults was that he was on PCP at the time. He was charged with attempted murder and pleaded guilty to felony assault.
Due to his previous civil rights injunction prohibiting him from assaulting, threatening, or intimidating anyone because of race or nationality, he was charged with criminal contempt and sentenced to two years in prison (but served only 45 days). Wahlberg believed he had left the second victim permanently blind in one eye, though Trinh later said that he had lost his eye during the Vietnam War while serving in the South Vietnamese army, which fought alongside American forces.
Incident #5
In December 1992, Wahlberg appeared on Channel 4 show The Word. Shabba Ranks was the other musical guest. He and Wahlberg were booked to perform a song together. The show's host Mark Lamarr played a compilation video with clips of ragga songs with homophobic content, including "Boom Bye Bye" by Buju Banton and Shabba's "Wicked inna Bed," both of which encouraged shooting batty boys (Jamaican slang for gay men). When Mark Lamarr asked Shabba to comment, he said, "Most definitely for them that forfeit the law of God Almighty, you deserve crucifixion, most definitely. I live by the concept of the Bible, which is the righteousness of every human being, and the Bible states that man should multiply. The multiplication is done by a male and a female." Mark Lamarr then yelled, "That's absolute crap and you know it!" and continued to berate Ranks while the audience cheered and applauded. Marky Mark was asked to comment and refused to condemn Ranks' comments. The two then performed a song together which included Wahlberg rapping, “Shouts out to Shabba Ranks, speaks his mind, speaks his opinion. All y'all can't deal with it, step the fuck off!" A heavily edited version of the episode was re-aired the next night.
Around this time, Wahlberg appeared in Calvin Klein underwear ads which were plastered everywhere. As a result of all the above incidents, in January 1993 the Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence teamed up with the Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders to launch a three week campaign to raise awareness about hate crimes and bias-motivated violence, centered around demanding that Calvin Klein remove Mark Wahlberg as their spokesperson. They printed 1500 bright orange bumper stickers with the words “Marky Mark - Convicted Racist” on them. Hundreds of volunteers in New York City put the bumper stickers onto every Calvin Klein ad featuring Marky Mark that they could find on subway trains, phone booths, and bus stops, placing the stickers over Wahlberg’s hand.
CAAAV and GLAD scheduled a press conference in Times Square underneath a huge Calvin Klein billboard with Marky Mark. They got a life sized cardboard cutout of Wahlberg and put a pair of Calvin Klein underwear on it which they placed next to tombstones with the names of the victims of anti-Asian hate crimes. The plan was to pull down the real underwear during the press conference, revealing one of the orange stickers on his crotch.
A few days before the press conference, his publicist got in touch with the two groups and invited them to assist with acceptable languaging for an apology. Taking this as a positive sign, CAAAV and GLAD called off their Times Square protest. Wahlberg issued a statement that said:
“In 1986 I harassed a group of school kids on a field trip, many of them African-American. And in 1988, I assaulted two Vietnamese men over a case of beer. I used racist language during these encounters and people were seriously hurt by what I did. I am truly sorry. I was a teenager and intoxicated when I did these things. But that’s no excuse. I know there are kids out there doing the same stuff now and I just want to tell them, don’t do it."
He also said, "I want to make it clear that I condemn anti-gay hatred and violence." As part of his statement, he pledged to make an ad campaign denouncing all forms of bigotry. As of 2023, he still has not done so.
Incident #6
In August 1992, Wahlberg kicked and punched a 20 year old Black man in the face repeatedly (while Wahlberg's bodyguard held him down), breaking his jaw. The victim had to have his jaw wired shut. Wahlberg and his bodyguard were charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. Days before the trial was set to begin, Wahlberg settled out of court.
Incident #7
In July 1993, Walhberg made "disparaging remarks about homosexuals" (per the police report). Madonna's publicist Liz Rosenberg told People magazine that he called one of Madonna's friends "a h*m*" which resulted in a fight where he pushed nightclub owner John Enos and punched Maverick Productions executive Guy Oseary in the nose.
Of note, in 2007 he told Premiere Magazine that he had been offered the lead in Brokeback Mountain but turned it down because he was "creeped out" by "the spitting on the hand, getting ready to do the thing." He later admitted during a 2007 interview with Access Hollywood that he hadn't been offered the lead and said he had lied about it to downplay not being offered the role. He said, "The funny thing was I was basically just trying to downplay the fact that I was never offered the movie. I mean, I had a meeting with Ang Lee but he didn’t offer me the movie. You don’t pass up an opportunity to work with Ang Lee. I’ve been scared to do other things before because of my own insecurities but I faced them … I was just basically trying to make light of the fact that I was never offered the movie. He didn’t think I was a good enough actor to play the part.” In 2020, he starred in Joe Bell, playing a father crusading against homophobic bullying.
The aftermath
In 2006, he said on Nightline, "I did a lot of things that I regretted, and I certainly paid for my mistakes. You have to go and ask for forgiveness, and it wasn't until I really started doing good and doing right, by other people as well as myself, that I really started to feel that guilt go away. So I don't have a problem going to sleep at night. I feel good when I wake up in the morning." It's worth noting that when he said that in 2006, he hadn't apologized to any of his victims or asked for their forgiveness. In 2016, he told The Wrap, "I spent 28 years righting the wrong. I didn't need a piece of paper to acknowledge it."
In 2014, Wahlberg attempted to seek pardons for attacks #3 and #4 and have them wiped from his criminal record, which brought renewed attention to his previous crimes. On the pardon application, he wrote that the primary reason he was asking for a pardon was that he might “be denied a concessionaire’s license [for his restaurant Wahlburgers] on the basis of my prior record." He met with one victim in person to apologize.
Kristyn Atwood, one of the 9 year old fourth-grade students Wahlberg attacked at the beach in 1986 told the Associated Press that she didn’t think he should be pardoned: “It was a hate crime and that's exactly what should be on his record forever. I don’t really care who he is. It doesn’t make him any exception. If you’re a racist, you’re always going to be a racist. And for him to want to erase it, I just think it’s wrong.” Judith Beals, who was the prosecutor in some of the cases, said that "Wahlberg has never acknowledged the racial nature of his crimes." Wahlberg's former teacher said he should be considered for a pardon if he apologized to his victims. She said, "I don't think he did it with that malice intent. He was a young kid, just a punk."
In 2020, his past crimes were in the spotlight again after he posted on Instagram about George Floyd: "The murder of George Floyd is heartbreaking. We must all work together to fix this problem. I'm praying for all of us. God bless." People dragged him for posting #blacklivesmatter in light of his past crimes. In response, he told The Guardian that he "did the work. I took it upon myself to own up to my mistakes."
https://instagram.com/p/CA_6pLFpqkD
In the previous post, someone asked about his misogyny. The same Guardian interview mentioned Kate Moss, who has stated several times that she was not comfortable when she shot the 1992 topless Calvin Klein ads with him. At the time, she was 17 and he was 21. In 2008, she told Interview magazine, "He was such a dickhead. He wasn't very nice." In a 2012 Vanity Fair interview, she said, "It didn’t feel like me at all. I felt really bad about straddling this buff guy. I didn’t like it." Last year when she was on the BBC Radio 4 show Desert Island Discs, she said, "He was very macho, and it was all about him." Calvin Klein's take on the photoshoot: “It didn’t go too well. [Kate] didn’t like [Mark] at all. I have worked with so many women, great ones, and Kate was always difficult." In the same 2010 Daily Telegraph interview, he called Wahlberg “a pleasure.” I couldn't find anything more specific though so if anyone else has the dirt, feel free to share.
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In light of some of the surprised Pikachu faces from non-ONTDers after Marky Mark's violent and racist past came to the attention of the media AGAIN thanks to SAG's brilliant idea to have him present the award for best movie ensemble to the cast of Everything Everywhere All at Once aka a group of Asian actors, I did some googling to see what I could find beyond the basic info that ONTD already knows about the crimes listed on his Wikipedia page.
Incidents #1 & #2
In June 1986, three Black children were walking home from school. Wahlberg and two of his friends began following them on their bikes. One of the perpetrators told the Black children, "We don't like n***** so get the fuck away.” Mark and his friends began chasing the children while yelling, "Kill the n*****!" and throwing rocks at them.
The next day, Wahlberg and the same two friends followed a group of mostly 9 and 10 year old Black fourth-graders (including one of the victims from the previous day) taking a field trip at the beach. They yelled racial epithets, threw rocks (hitting two of the girls), and "summoned other white males who joined" in the harassment.
In August 1986, a civil suit was filed against Wahlberg for violating the civil rights of his victims, and the case was settled the next month. A condition of the court case prohibited him from assaulting, threatening, intimidating, harassing, causing or attempting injury or damage to a person or their property due to their race, color, or national origin.
Incidents #3 & #4
In April 1988, Thanh Lam was walking from his car to his house with two cases of beer. Wahlberg called him "a Vietnam fucking shit" and then hit him in the head with a five foot long wooden stick, knocking him unconscious. He hit the victim so hard that the three inch thick stick broke into two pieces. The victim was hospitalized after the attack. When the police arrested him, Wahlberg said, "You don't have to let him identify me. I'll tell you now that's the motherfucker whose head I split open."
Later that night, Wahlberg attacked Hoa Johnny Trinh, another Vietnamese-American. Wahlberg ran up to Trinh, put his arm around his shoulder, and said, "Police coming, let me hide." After a police car passed them, Wahlberg punched Trinh in the eye so hard that the victim fell to the ground. When the police arrived, Wahlberg made several unsolicited comments about "g**ks" and "slant-eyed g**ks."
His explanation for the assaults was that he was on PCP at the time. He was charged with attempted murder and pleaded guilty to felony assault.
Due to his previous civil rights injunction prohibiting him from assaulting, threatening, or intimidating anyone because of race or nationality, he was charged with criminal contempt and sentenced to two years in prison (but served only 45 days). Wahlberg believed he had left the second victim permanently blind in one eye, though Trinh later said that he had lost his eye during the Vietnam War while serving in the South Vietnamese army, which fought alongside American forces.
Incident #5
In December 1992, Wahlberg appeared on Channel 4 show The Word. Shabba Ranks was the other musical guest. He and Wahlberg were booked to perform a song together. The show's host Mark Lamarr played a compilation video with clips of ragga songs with homophobic content, including "Boom Bye Bye" by Buju Banton and Shabba's "Wicked inna Bed," both of which encouraged shooting batty boys (Jamaican slang for gay men). When Mark Lamarr asked Shabba to comment, he said, "Most definitely for them that forfeit the law of God Almighty, you deserve crucifixion, most definitely. I live by the concept of the Bible, which is the righteousness of every human being, and the Bible states that man should multiply. The multiplication is done by a male and a female." Mark Lamarr then yelled, "That's absolute crap and you know it!" and continued to berate Ranks while the audience cheered and applauded. Marky Mark was asked to comment and refused to condemn Ranks' comments. The two then performed a song together which included Wahlberg rapping, “Shouts out to Shabba Ranks, speaks his mind, speaks his opinion. All y'all can't deal with it, step the fuck off!" A heavily edited version of the episode was re-aired the next night.
Click to viewAround this time, Wahlberg appeared in Calvin Klein underwear ads which were plastered everywhere. As a result of all the above incidents, in January 1993 the Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence teamed up with the Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders to launch a three week campaign to raise awareness about hate crimes and bias-motivated violence, centered around demanding that Calvin Klein remove Mark Wahlberg as their spokesperson. They printed 1500 bright orange bumper stickers with the words “Marky Mark - Convicted Racist” on them. Hundreds of volunteers in New York City put the bumper stickers onto every Calvin Klein ad featuring Marky Mark that they could find on subway trains, phone booths, and bus stops, placing the stickers over Wahlberg’s hand.
CAAAV and GLAD scheduled a press conference in Times Square underneath a huge Calvin Klein billboard with Marky Mark. They got a life sized cardboard cutout of Wahlberg and put a pair of Calvin Klein underwear on it which they placed next to tombstones with the names of the victims of anti-Asian hate crimes. The plan was to pull down the real underwear during the press conference, revealing one of the orange stickers on his crotch.
A few days before the press conference, his publicist got in touch with the two groups and invited them to assist with acceptable languaging for an apology. Taking this as a positive sign, CAAAV and GLAD called off their Times Square protest. Wahlberg issued a statement that said:
“In 1986 I harassed a group of school kids on a field trip, many of them African-American. And in 1988, I assaulted two Vietnamese men over a case of beer. I used racist language during these encounters and people were seriously hurt by what I did. I am truly sorry. I was a teenager and intoxicated when I did these things. But that’s no excuse. I know there are kids out there doing the same stuff now and I just want to tell them, don’t do it."
He also said, "I want to make it clear that I condemn anti-gay hatred and violence." As part of his statement, he pledged to make an ad campaign denouncing all forms of bigotry. As of 2023, he still has not done so.
Incident #6
In August 1992, Wahlberg kicked and punched a 20 year old Black man in the face repeatedly (while Wahlberg's bodyguard held him down), breaking his jaw. The victim had to have his jaw wired shut. Wahlberg and his bodyguard were charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. Days before the trial was set to begin, Wahlberg settled out of court.
Incident #7
In July 1993, Walhberg made "disparaging remarks about homosexuals" (per the police report). Madonna's publicist Liz Rosenberg told People magazine that he called one of Madonna's friends "a h*m*" which resulted in a fight where he pushed nightclub owner John Enos and punched Maverick Productions executive Guy Oseary in the nose.
Of note, in 2007 he told Premiere Magazine that he had been offered the lead in Brokeback Mountain but turned it down because he was "creeped out" by "the spitting on the hand, getting ready to do the thing." He later admitted during a 2007 interview with Access Hollywood that he hadn't been offered the lead and said he had lied about it to downplay not being offered the role. He said, "The funny thing was I was basically just trying to downplay the fact that I was never offered the movie. I mean, I had a meeting with Ang Lee but he didn’t offer me the movie. You don’t pass up an opportunity to work with Ang Lee. I’ve been scared to do other things before because of my own insecurities but I faced them … I was just basically trying to make light of the fact that I was never offered the movie. He didn’t think I was a good enough actor to play the part.” In 2020, he starred in Joe Bell, playing a father crusading against homophobic bullying.
The aftermath
In 2006, he said on Nightline, "I did a lot of things that I regretted, and I certainly paid for my mistakes. You have to go and ask for forgiveness, and it wasn't until I really started doing good and doing right, by other people as well as myself, that I really started to feel that guilt go away. So I don't have a problem going to sleep at night. I feel good when I wake up in the morning." It's worth noting that when he said that in 2006, he hadn't apologized to any of his victims or asked for their forgiveness. In 2016, he told The Wrap, "I spent 28 years righting the wrong. I didn't need a piece of paper to acknowledge it."
In 2014, Wahlberg attempted to seek pardons for attacks #3 and #4 and have them wiped from his criminal record, which brought renewed attention to his previous crimes. On the pardon application, he wrote that the primary reason he was asking for a pardon was that he might “be denied a concessionaire’s license [for his restaurant Wahlburgers] on the basis of my prior record." He met with one victim in person to apologize.
Kristyn Atwood, one of the 9 year old fourth-grade students Wahlberg attacked at the beach in 1986 told the Associated Press that she didn’t think he should be pardoned: “It was a hate crime and that's exactly what should be on his record forever. I don’t really care who he is. It doesn’t make him any exception. If you’re a racist, you’re always going to be a racist. And for him to want to erase it, I just think it’s wrong.” Judith Beals, who was the prosecutor in some of the cases, said that "Wahlberg has never acknowledged the racial nature of his crimes." Wahlberg's former teacher said he should be considered for a pardon if he apologized to his victims. She said, "I don't think he did it with that malice intent. He was a young kid, just a punk."
In 2020, his past crimes were in the spotlight again after he posted on Instagram about George Floyd: "The murder of George Floyd is heartbreaking. We must all work together to fix this problem. I'm praying for all of us. God bless." People dragged him for posting #blacklivesmatter in light of his past crimes. In response, he told The Guardian that he "did the work. I took it upon myself to own up to my mistakes."
https://instagram.com/p/CA_6pLFpqkD
In the previous post, someone asked about his misogyny. The same Guardian interview mentioned Kate Moss, who has stated several times that she was not comfortable when she shot the 1992 topless Calvin Klein ads with him. At the time, she was 17 and he was 21. In 2008, she told Interview magazine, "He was such a dickhead. He wasn't very nice." In a 2012 Vanity Fair interview, she said, "It didn’t feel like me at all. I felt really bad about straddling this buff guy. I didn’t like it." Last year when she was on the BBC Radio 4 show Desert Island Discs, she said, "He was very macho, and it was all about him." Calvin Klein's take on the photoshoot: “It didn’t go too well. [Kate] didn’t like [Mark] at all. I have worked with so many women, great ones, and Kate was always difficult." In the same 2010 Daily Telegraph interview, he called Wahlberg “a pleasure.” I couldn't find anything more specific though so if anyone else has the dirt, feel free to share.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18