Social media is still rejoicing over Sunday night’s Screen Actors Guild Awards where fan-favorite contender Everything Everywhere All At Once did a clean sweep. In addition to Michelle Yeoh, Jamie Lee Curtis and Ke Huay Quan winning in their respective categories, the ensemble took home the biggest award of the night, Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture. The prize is considered a bellwether for the Best Picture winner at the Oscars.
Ninety-four-year-old screen legend James Hong, who co-stars in the film, is currently going viral for his part of the acceptance speech where he pointed out Hollywood’s history of yellowface and the systematic exclusion of Asian actors. Still, despite the joyousness of the cast’s win, Twitter couldn’t help but call out the irony of the actor selected to present the night’s final award: Controversial actor Mark Wahlberg.
Despite being one of Hollywood’s most bankable actors—and proud Catholics—the Boogie Nights actor has a well-documented history of committing hate crimes against Black and Asian people, stemming from his teenage years. Before Sunday night, his rap sheet had most recently resurfaced after he shared a tribute to George Floyd on Instagram in 2020.
In 1986, when Wahlberg was 16, a civil rights lawsuit was filed against him after several incidents of harassing Black children with racial slurs and throwing rocks at them. (The case was ultimately settled). In 1992, he repeatedly kicked a Black man in the face and fractured his jaw in another case that was settled.
The incident that’s followed Wahlberg the most (though not enough to materially impact his career) is his nearly fatal assaults on two Vietnamese-American men in 1998. Over the course of a day, Wahlberg knocked one man unconscious with a wooden stick and punched the other, a Vietnam war veteran, in the eye. Wahlberg admitted to police that he attacked the first victim while making a series of anti-Asian remarks. He was later charged with attempted…
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