Mark Wahlberg was ripped online after posting a memorial to George Floyd, with many pointing to the actor's hate crime conviction, and others claiming he's edited his Wikipedia to try and hide his past.
The 49-year-old star of films like The Fighter and Boogie Nights was past convicted for assaults he committed at the age of 16 in April 8, 1988 in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood toward a pair of Vietnamese-American men named Johnny Trinh, who he punched; and Thanh Lam, who he knocked out with a wooden stick. According to Court documents
The Oscar-nominated actor in 2014 made an unsuccessful attempt to be pardoned for the assaults, in which investigators said he'd made remarks about 'g***s' and 'slant-eyed g***s.'
The Spenser Confidential star - who claimed that race was not a factor in the incident, as was only trying to steal beer - served 45 days in prison in connection with the incident, in which he was charged with attempted murder and eventually convicted of assault.
Earlier this week, Wahlberg took to social media with a post about the death of George Floyd amid nationwide protests against racism and police brutality.
Wahlberg wrote: "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.'
The actor, who added the hashtag Black Lives Matter into the post, was soon reviled on social media for the 1988 assaults.
Some of the social media reactions centered on how Star Wars actor John Boyega might face more severe consequences for his anti-racist views than Wahlberg for his past actions.
'We live in a world where John Boyega might be blackballed for speaking out against racist violence and Mark Wahlberg will always work despite being guilty of it,' journalist Torraine Walker wrote.
Anothe user noted how 'John Boyega is afraid he might lose his career because he is protesting against racism and police brutality, but Mark Wahlberg has a whole hate crimes section on his Wikipedia page and is one of the highest paid actors in the world.'
Eugene Gu, MD noted the pass Wahlberg has received from the media in spite of his past actions.
'Mark Wahlberg can commit hate crimes, call African Americans the N-word while beating them up, call Asian Americans like Thanh Lam and Hoa Trinh "Vietnam f**king sh*t!" as he beat them unconscious with a stick, yet still be praised by white privileged media for being anti-racist,' the social media personality said.
Wahlberg's Wikipedia page was also at the center of the backlash, The Blast reported, with some social media users claiming the title of the section was edited to read Controversy from Hate Crimes; as of late Sunday, the portion of the page detailing the events was listed under the phrase 'Racial Incidents'.
On the page, Wikipedia says in a fact box that 'this section's title may not reflect its contents or does not comply with standard formatting and is requested to be renamed.'
Wahlberg, who has been quarantining with his family, wife Rhea Durham, 41, and their four children - Ella, 16, Michael, 14, Brendan, 11, and Grace, 10, has yet to respond to the controversy on his social media.
