Mark Wahlberg and the Screen Actors Guild Awards are facing criticism after the Ted actor presented the award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture to the cast of Everything Everywhere All at Once. People questioned the decision as the film’s cast is predominantly Asian, and Wahlberg was convicted of assaulting two Vietnamese men in 1988.
Journalist Jeff Yang tweeted, “It must have been quite a shock for Mark Wahlberg to witness a group of Asians beating white people.”
Writer Bonnie Stiernberg added, “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.”
During the 1988 assault, Wahlberg knocked one of the men unconscious with a wooden stick, and investigators noted that the Father Stu actor hurled racial slurs at them. He only served 45 days out of a two-year prison sentence.