Mark Wahlberg hopes God forgives him for Boogie Nights (also nearly beating 2 men to death)
Mark Wahlberg, who somehow regularly has the ear of various Catholic officials, from cardinals to the pope, has once again implored a holy audience to forgive him the sins of his misspent youth, including making Boogie Nights and the day he spent attacking Asian men. The Chicago Tribune reports that, while in town last week, Wahlberg expressed his hopes that God enjoys movies and has a sense of humor, because there are films about talking bears and porn stars for which he’d like to atone. Also, he still feels bad about attacking two Vietnamese men (on separate occasions) in 1988, leading to his imprisonment at the age of 16.
“I just always hope that God is a movie fan and also forgiving, because I’ve made some poor choices in my past,” Wahlberg said without naming that Planet Of The Apes remake. Instead, he said “Boogie Nights is up there at the top of the list” of movies for which he’d ask for forgiveness. But if you think hanging fake dong for Paul Thomas Anderson is the only thing he regrets, well, he hasn’t forgotten about being incarcerated for beating a Vietnamese man unconscious while shouting slurs in what the Trib calls a “racist assault.” Later that same day, Wahlberg sucker-punched a different Vietnamese man, and though he was sentenced on the first assault, he presumably feels just as bad about the latter. As for slinging rocks and racial epithets at black kids when he was 15, which led to civil action against him, Wahlberg’s probably waiting to meet with a bishop.
Now, the actor has “never been shy about sharing my past and the bad decisions I’ve made and being affiliated with gangs, being incarcerated,” which is something he thinks “Chicago youths caught up in violent crime can identify with.” That gross generalization is why he’s “continued to try to do as much as I can to help young people,” he said. But look, Wahlberg feels “remorse when I’ve made mistakes. If I could go back and change a lot of things that I did, I would. I look for ways to give back.”