Mark Wahlberg

Legal issues

As a teenager, in 1986 and 1988, Walhberg took part in some racially motivated attacks.^[12] In June 1986, a 15-year-old Wahlberg and three friends chased after three black children while yelling "Kill the nigger, kill the nigger" and throwing rocks at them.^[13] The next day, Wahlberg and the others followed a group of mostly black fourth-graders (including one of the victims from the previous day) taking a field trip on a beach, yelled racial epithets, threw rocks at them, and "summoned other white males who joined" in the harassment.^[13][14] In August 1986, civil action was filed against Wahlberg for violating the civil rights of his victims, and Wahlberg and his friends were issued a civil rights injunction which served as a warning that they would be jailed if they committed another hate crime.^{[15][16][17][18]}


In April 1988, Wahlberg, then 16, assaulted a middle-aged Vietnamese-American man on the street, calling him a "Vietnam fucking shit" and knocking him unconscious with a large wooden stick. Later the same day, he attacked Johnny Trinh, another Vietnamese-American, punching him in the eye. When Wahlberg was arrested and returned to the scene of the first assault, he told police officers: "I'll tell you now that's the mother-fucker whose head I split open."^[19] Later, Wahlberg would explain that he was on PCP at the time.^[20] Investigators also noted that Wahlberg "made numerous unsolicited racial statements about 'gooks' and 'slant-eyed gooks'".^[21][22] He was initially arrested for attempted murder.^[23] He was charged with two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, one count of marijuana possession, and criminal contempt for violating the prior civil rights injunction he received in 1986.^[15] He pleaded guilty to felony assault and was sentenced to three months in jail, but served only 45 days of his sentence.^[15][21][23] Wahlberg believed he had left the second victim permanently blind in one eye, though Trinh later said that he had lost his eye during the Vietnam War while serving in the South Vietnamese army, which fought alongside American forces.^{[24][18][21][22]}


In August 1992, Wahlberg fractured the jaw of his neighbor Robert Crehan in an attack.^[25] Court documents state that in 1992, Wahlberg, "without provocation or cause, viciously and repeatedly kicked" Crehan in the face, while another man, Derek McCall, held the victim on the ground. Wahlberg's attorney claimed that Wahlberg and McCall, who is black, were provoked after McCall was called a racial slur by Crehan.^[26] The lawsuit was settled between the two parties, avoiding a criminal trial.^[27]


In 2006, Wahlberg said the right thing for him to do would be to meet with Trinh and make amends.^[23] In 2014, Wahlberg applied for a pardon from the State of Massachusetts for his convictions,^[28][29] which engendered controversy.^[21] According to the BBC, the debate about his suitability for a pardon raised "difficult issues, with the arguments on both sides being far-reaching and complex".^[30] Wahlberg later said he regretted the attempt to obtain a pardon, and his petition was closed after he failed to answer a request from the pardon board as to whether he wanted it to remain open.^[31][32] In 2016, Wahlberg said he had met with Trinh and apologized "for those horrific acts". Trinh released a public statement forgiving Wahlberg.^[24][31]