SAG Awards 2023: Mark Wahlberg Blasted For Presenting Honor To Asian Cast Of Everything Everywhere All At Once!

B.D.

Mark Wahlberg is taking a lot of (well-deserved, TBH) heat online right now after a very awkward award moment at Sunday night’s SAG Awards.

Wahlberg was one of many presenters for the 2023 shindig, and he appeared several times on camera in the broadcast. Sadly, one of his on-air forays turned into a REALLY unsettling moment online — as it reminded fans about his dark past.

Related: Mark Says He Moved His Family Away From California To Give His Kids A ‘Better Life’

The moment happened when Wahlberg took to the stage late in the show to reveal the nominees and winner for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. This award was never in question — the stunning and pioneering cast of Everything Everywhere All At Once took home the honor. As they well should have!!

Ch-ch-check out Wahlberg’s announcement and the cast’s triumphant victory speech (below):

That’s great!!

But… the cast is chock-full of super-talented Asian-American actors. And Wahlberg was convicted more than three decades ago of brutally assaulting two Asian-American men. So to see him hob-nob with these Asian artists in light of his very, very unfortunate and violent past was not lost on millions of viewers.

As many of you may recall, back in 1988 — when Wahlberg was 16 years old — he attacked two Vietnamese-American men in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. The now-51-year-old actor, who was convicted of the assaults at the time, punched a man named Johnny Trinh, and knocked out a second man named Thanh Lam with a wooden stick. Court documents indicate he also called the men by awful slurs including “g***s” and “slant-eyed g***s” while committing the vicious assault.

Related: Mark Teases Eventually Walking Away From Hollywood To Do… What?!

The Father Stu actor has tried to get those incidents off his record in the past. Back in 2014, he petitioned for a pardon, but was denied. Still, fans have never forgotten. And so when Mark popped up on stage on Sunday, all those icky and awful memories came flooding back. Especially since the Everything Everywhere All At Once cast includes the likes of Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh, Vietnamese actor Ke Huy Quan, and Chinese actor James Hong — among many others. That was not lost on Twitter users commenting throughout Sunday night.

Here are just a few of the MANY fan reactions to Mark’s awful past as it relates to this very awkward award appearance:

“Why did y’all let [Wahlberg] present an award to a mostly Asian cast after he hate crimed [sic] minorities…but ban will smith for a little slap’?”

“genuinely such an embarrassing thing for hollywood to do.”

“Good for Mark Wahlberg, standing on a stage with all those Asian people without assaulting any of them”

“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…”

“So, who’s the moron running the SAG Awards that okay’d Mark Wahlberg presenting the cast of EEAAO considering the man assaulted two Vietnamese men. Just saying, it’s in poor taste.”

“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”

“having mark wahlberg give the biggest trophy of the night to an asian majority cast… the SAG, the producers were cooking lmao”

“How did no one realize how problematic it is for him to present an award to a historic asian led film when he has been openly racist for years and even blinded an asian man during a vicious attack??”

And one more for good measure:

OOF!

That wasn’t the only f**k-up Mark suffered on Sunday night, either. While presenting another award on the evening, he referred to the film Women Talking by the incorrect name Women Are Talking. Oops!! Can’t win ’em all, we suppose…

Still, this award presentation was definitely a bit more unfortunate than innocently f**king up a film title. Ya know??

What say U, Perezcious readers?!

To learn more about how you can help stop AAPI hate, check out https://stopaapihate.org/. 

[Image via Netflix/YouTube]

The post SAG Awards 2023: Mark Wahlberg Blasted For Presenting Honor To Asian Cast Of <i>Everything Everywhere All At Once</i>! appeared first on Perez Hilton.