I don’t care about Mark Wahlberg’s opinions usually but this article from Starpulse amused me a little:
Entourage has become a curse for Mark Wahlberg on Sundays – because people approach him in church with story lines and requests to be on the hit show. Wahlberg, who is the producer of the series – which is based on his early days in Hollywood, admits a family trip to church has become a business meeting and he’d like others to leave him alone when he’s worshiping.
Not amusing in and of itself, I guess, but just a few days ago there was another Wahlberg related story making the rounds on various blogs: Mark Wahlberg startled by atheist fan — so much so that four years later he can’t get the vision out of his mind, nearly being mauled by a girl with a “God is not real” pin on her chest. He prays for her, apparently. Maybe he wouldn’t have minded her attention so much if the pin read “Jesus loves me” instead.
There’s also this thing about the comedian he wanted to “crack in the [expletives deleted] nose”:
The Happening actor, a one-time juvenile delinquent, admits he was far from impressed with Samberg’s comedy in a farmyard segment, where he pretended to be hard-man Wahlberg. And he made his feelings known on late-night chat show Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Thursday when he was reminded of the clip.
Wahlberg said, “When I see that kid, I’m gonna crack that big f#*king nose of his.” But the actor made sure Kimmel knew he was partly joking when he used Samberg’s Wahlberg catchphrase, adding, “And then I’m gonna tell him, ‘Say hi to your mother for me.'”
However Samberg still needs to be worried; Wahlberg said, “I think I’m gonna get on a plane tomorrow, I’m gonna go to New York… wherever the f*@k they shoot that show. He probably doesn’t have a dressing room so I have to find him in the cafeteria, and I’m gonna slap him in the big nose. Tune in, I guaran-f**king-tee you… And then instead of me forgiving him, I’ll ask him to forgive me. Right?”
So that’s really Marky Mark’s stance here. If insulted, it’s okay to threaten to pound the crap out of someone because if you do go ahead with it, you can always ask for forgiveness. Nice. No turning the other cheek here, just slap one. Some Christian.
He’s a “born again” isn’t he? He must be, given his early history. This from imdb.com’s biography:
Wahlberg dropped out of high school at age 14 (but later got his GED) to pursue a life of petty crime and drugs. He’d spend his days scamming and stealing, working on the odd drug deal before treating himself to the substances himself. The young man also had a violent streak – one which was often aimed at minorities. At age 16, he was convicted of assault against two Vietnamese men after he had tried to rob them. As a result of his assault conviction, he was sentenced to serve 50 days in prison at Deer Island penitentiary. Whilst there, he began working out to pass time and, when he emerged at the end of his sentence, he had gone from being a scrawny young kid to a buff young man. Wahlberg also credits the jail time as being his motivation to improve his lifestyle and leave the crime behind him. Once he was released, Mark rejoined his family, who were now in the national spotlight. His older brother Donnie Wahlberg was a member of the 1980’s singing sensation New Kids on the Block. Mark himself had been an original member of the band but had backed out early on – uncomfortable with the squeaky clean image of the group.
Once he found fame with the Funky Bunch, he had no problems strutting around in his underwear on stage and for Calvin Klein billboards. He also released a book about his penis, apparently. Why? Maybe it’s best not to wonder.
I wonder how important his faith really is to him. Yes, I suppose he’s come a long way from the bad habits of his youth and he’s pretty lucky he didn’t wind up as a grim statistic in a list of doomed child celebrities. But look at how committed Kirk Cameron is to his faith at the expense of his credibility. His faith is far more important than being taken seriously, let alone as a marketable star.
If faith really matters to a person, shouldn’t that person fully exemplify it, not just in church on Sundays, but every day, every hour of the day? If it really matters, shouldn’t a person live like it matters?
I think Wahlberg is still uncomfortable with the squeaky-clean image that most Christians would aspire to have. Do his choices best serve the path he claims to follow? I’m inclined to say no.
One Minion's Opinion 