Should Mark Wahlberg Be Cancelled For His Anti-Asian Past?

Why is Mark Wahlberg presenting this award to a cast full of Asians? So controversial. Let's talk about it. Yeah, this is going viral in entertainment circles on the Internet right now. We're talking about like tens of thousands of comments, way more comments than I even would have thought, to be honest. But long story short, Andrew, Mark Wahlberg presented everything, everywhere, all at once with the award for best SAG movie of the year. However, Andrew, Mark Wahlberg, when he was 16 years old, got convicted of hate crimes against two Vietnamese men. So, of course, Andrew, it's 2023. The Internet dug it back up, and it went crazy. Some people were defending Mark Wahlberg. Some people were going against him. Some people were somewhere in the middle. So, of course, Andrew, we got to cover the Internet reactions, our own takeaways. So make sure you like, subscribe, and turn on your notifications, Andrew. Real quick, Andrew, why is this such a big deal? Is it because Mark Wahlberg is a gigantic superstar? Well, that is partially it. Guys, he is one of the gigantic Hollywood superstars that has something this bad on his record. And sometimes it does get overlooked, maybe partially because it's against Asians. And if it was against another group, it might even be a little bit more of a thing, right? Yeah, well, he was 16 years old. He was definitely coming from a rough part of Boston. No doubt, there are Irish gangs. There are drugs going on. It's definitely not a nice place. He comes in there. He said he was on drugs. But he basically assaults two Vietnamese men while trying to steal beer. He assaults them bad. It's bad. Right. Initially, the report comes out that he blinded one of them in their left eye. Even though later, the guy came out and said, and there's some dispute over whether he got paid off or not, to say that actually he was blind the whole time. Well, anyways, he does get arrested. He does get convicted. He's sentenced to two years at the age of 16, but then only does 45 days in jail. So technically, he did his time, even though it wasn't very long. And obviously, that happened a long time ago, 35 years ago. Since then... Dorchester was a real wild place back then, man. Yeah. It's hard to judge me for what I did. I mean, hey, man, it's on your record. You're a superstar. You got paid millions of dollars. But anyways, so there's a multitude of reactions. Let's get into it. David, what's the first main opinion? Obviously, more from the Asian side, but not fully. Only from the Asians was like, I don't forgive him. People don't change. You don't know what's in his heart. And certainly, even if he has changed and made up for it, why would you have him present the award to the group of people that he victimized? All right. So a couple things. I don't think he knew who was going to win. I think he signed up to present at the award show, and then they happened to win. Now, maybe Mark Wahlberg was like, all right, well, listen, now I'm just not going to do any more award shows seeing the backlash. I mean, I can't even shake some Asian hands without people thinking I want to punch him in the face. Right. He's not holding Kihuei Kwan in this photo going, hey, are you from Dorchester? Yeah. And I think one good point that people did bring up, which, first of all, again, what he did back when he was 16 was bad. It actually deserves to be on his record. It's not like it needs to be expunged and hidden in the records. It's not pardoned. It shouldn't be pardoned. But I'm saying, I guess, like, if you believe in restorative justice, now a lot of people do, a lot of people, especially on the left side of things, do believe in restorative justice. If you do, then you can't keep calling Mark Wahlberg a criminal or an Asian hater. You can't. I do think you can make up for stuff for bad things you do when you're 16. The truth is. But I noticed that there was two different groups, Andrew, on the pro-Mark Wahlberg side. There was one that was kind of like, hey, man, we all do stuff that's messed up and it's 50-50, but ultimately it sure seems like he stayed out of trouble. And then there was another crowd that was more tribal about it, like, stop bringing it up. It doesn't matter what he did when he was 16, man. He was just trying to be a patriot. He had some misplaced anger, but he's my guy, and he's only one of the last people in Hollyweird fighting for me and my identity, so stop talking about it. So obviously, like we said, Andrew, there was the tribalistic, more, I guess, more middle America redneck-y side, but then there was a side that was just like, yeah, man, I mean, we all do stuff that's messed up. How interesting is it, David, that the one last standing true blue-collar Irish-American hero that's a big superstar in Hollywood has such a past like that? Yeah. Unfortunately, I know Chris Pratt is also another conservative American guy, but he ain't seen as the same. He's beta. Mark's alpha. He makes love to aliens. It's not the same, man. Mark Wahlberg fights aliens and saves America. So I think that, yeah, they're viewed differently, and I think it's interesting that part of the defense is coming from a tribal side where they're just like, I don't want to see the last good-standing white American to get attacked by this. And he recently sort of rededicated himself to being Catholic, which is obviously the Irish religion. I mean, a lot of Irish people are Catholic. I'm sorry. And then, you know, my perspective on the whole semantics of this issue is I just hope that he paid restitution or gave his victims money. You know what I mean? I don't think they're permanently damaged. Obviously, the whole eye thing is, like, up for debate, but the guy said he was already blind from the Vietnam War before. It wasn't just the punch from Mark. So I guess for me, I'm like, man, if you legitimately made up for it, it's legit for people to bring it up, but it's also legit for you to say, man, it's in my past, and I made up for it. Yeah. So it's sort of a different perspective than both sides. It's in the middle. All right. I got a funny idea. What about at all the Wahlburger locations, they have to start serving a Bunmi-inspired burger, and then they donate half the proceeds, a large part of the proceeds, to, like, Asian organizations. That would be crazy. Or the Vietnamese nonprofits in Dorchester, Boston, which is an ethnic enclave. Exactly. So he could do that. That's just an idea, Mark. I don't know if the team's watching. Anyway, let's just get into our takeaways. For me, my biggest takeaway is that, listen, I just don't think it's that top of my mind. I'm not going to spend time wondering if Mark Wahlberg atoned for his sins or not. Right. I do think he should. I think it's fair for people to bring it up. I think it's fair for him to bring out the receipts of what he did to fix it or the good life that he's lived or the good deeds or whatever. But at the end of the day, the Asian community has got to focus on what we're doing. We're not even going to be on that award stage, like with everything everywhere all at once, unless you're focusing on what we've got going on, whether it's Pan-Asian, this community supporting that community, what we're building together. I think the Asian-American community, specifically on Twitter, TikTok, you know, the critics and stuff like that, they're always worrying Sukiyana made that rap song that was like Asian eye, Ching Chong, or this Mark Wahlberg thing. I'm not saying they're not valid at all, but you're over-weighting what's happening in these other worlds that don't even care about Asians at all when we've got to be focused on what we're building internally. Yeah, that's a good point. I agree with you. I have two quick takeaways. I think, number one, as an audience member or a person that's outside of the game, you don't have to forgive Mark Wahlberg. No, you don't. I don't have to forgive him. What does it mean if I forgive him or if I hate him? It doesn't matter. But I do enjoy some of his movies, you know? Yeah, you like my movies, Andrew? You think it's like because it's like something that Hollywood's not really offering in a large volume? You know, Mark, I mean, I don't know. Sometimes when I watch your movies, I feel a spirit that's very aggressive and stands up for what he wants. Anyways, no, but, like, I'm serious. You don't have to forgive him, and you don't have to like him, but you don't have to spend all your time hating on him either. But you can, whatever. Just don't let it take up space in your brain. You only got so much hard drive space. Another take that I have is just Hollywood is all politics. So if you're wondering, how come other Asians in Hollywood don't hate Mark Wahlberg? They should, like, not want to work with him. They still shake his hand. Yeah. Seymour has a movie coming out with Mark Wahlberg, right? That was a little controversial when he took up that role because of this past. But also, you have to understand, man, Hollywood's a lot of politics. And it's just like, listen, man, the goal in Hollywood is you make hit movies, you make everybody famous, you do good art. And through the larger macro narratives of media, you can affect some larger impact in your community, whether it's inspiring people or bringing to light stories. Yeah. Now, do I hope that Mark Wahlberg obviously has no hate in his heart? Maybe he doesn't have hate in his heart. Do I think he's the biggest fan of, like, Shalom Bao and, like, pho and all this? No, probably not. But whatever. You know what I mean? And at the end of the day, guys, Hollywood is a lot of people just trying to make art, playing characters. It's, like, a lot of politics, too, and why you shake hands and why you don't just speak your mind whenever you can because people do this and they make the projects and this person's tied under this agent. Anyways, guys, I get it. But, you know, go ahead and hate on Mark. I don't care. Let us know what you think in the comment section below. Like I said, man, I haven't read this many boomer comments defending somebody in so long. Like we said, there was an entire spectrum. Even amongst Asians, there was an entire spectrum of opinion, right? Yo, Mark Wahlberg is one of those American blue-collar stars. So people are going to ride for him. Do you like my story of redemption? Do you believe me, guys? Let me know in the comment section below. Make sure you keep it civil. All right, you guys, until next time, like I said, ultimately, you know, it's up to you guys. Until next time, we're the Hot Pot Boys. We out. Peace.