Mark Wahlberg criticised for presenting SAG to Asian cast after “hate crimes”

Mark Wahlberg

Mark Wahlberg has been criticised on social media for presenting the SAG award to the Asian cast of Everything Everywhere All At Once.

The actor’s history of hate crimes, including a series of incidents in the 1980s during which Wahlberg attacked two Vietnamese men, has resurfaced online.

Wahlberg attacked two Vietnamese men, Thanh Lam and Johnny Trinh, knocking the former unconscious with a wooden stick and punching the latter in the eye. It was reported by officers that Wahlberg had made racist slurs to describe both men.

Last night (February 26), the cast of Everything Everywhere All At Once took home several Screen Actors Guild awards, including Best Actress for Michelle Yeoh and Best Supporting Actor for Ke Huy Quan.

“I gotta say, having Mark Wahlberg, who literally went to jail as a teen for committing a hate crime against a Vietnamese man, present an award to the cast of Everything Everywhere All At Once was certainly a choice,” wrote Bonnie Stiernberg on Twitter after the event.

Matt Samet added: “REALLY interesting that Will Smith wasn’t invited to present Best Actress while Mark Wahlberg is presenting the ensemble award to a film with a predominantly Asian cast when he punched and nearly blinded a Vietnamese man…”

Take a look at some more reactions here:

Meanwhile, Everything Everywhere All At Once star Michelle Yeoh revealed she was pressured to retire before signing on for the project.

Speaking on The Envelope podcast, Yeoh, aged 60, explained that she was defiant against calls for her to retire before she was cast.

“You know, as you get older, the roles get smaller,” Yeoh said. “It seems like the numbers go up and these things go narrow and then you start getting relegated to the side more and more. So when Everything Everywhere came… it was very emotional because this means that you are the one who’s leading this whole process, who’s telling the story.”

The post Mark Wahlberg criticised for presenting SAG to Asian cast after “hate crimes” appeared first on NME.

Ella Kemp

NME