Meet Mark Wahlberg's hate crime victim, 26 years later

Hoa Trinh says he forgives Mark Wahlberg for the 1988 assault.



Many folks have expressed outrage and plentiful "oh hell nos" over Mark Wahlberg's attempts to officially erase the hate crimes of his youth, including that one time he was arrested and convicted of viciously beating two Asian men while calling them racial slurs. The actor/producer recently applied to the Massachusetts Board of Pardons to have the 1988 assault conviction removed from his record.

EXCLUSIVE: Wahlberg gets his pardon from the only person who matters - the VICTIM: Man he beat and racially abused says he forgives star and reveals he had no idea who his attacker was until now

Twenty-six years later, one of the men Wahlberg assaulted says he forgives Wahlberg for the attack, and supports his efforts to get a pardon. He also says he had no idea that his assailant had grown up to become a world-famous movie star. (I'm guessing he is also unaware of Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch.)

Mark Wahlberg wants you to officially forget his hate crime

Marky Mark has applied to have his 1988 assault conviction removed from his record.



Here's a fun fact about mega movie star Mark Wahlberg: he was once arrested and convicted for beating the shit out of an Asian man, while calling him racial slurs, in a vicious attack that left the victim blind in one eye. Now, the actor/producer is requesting to have the assault conviction officially removed from his record.

Mark Wahlberg applies to have 1988 assault erased

Back in 1988, long before he was an Oscar-nominated actor, or battling Transformers, or even the rapper known as Marky Mark (YouTube it, kids), Wahlberg was a 16-year-old asshole who tried to steal two cases of beer from a Vietnamese American man, Thanh Lam, outside a convenience store in Dorchester. Wahlberg called Lam racial slurs and hit him over the head with a 5-foot wooden stick, knocking him unconscious.

Later than night, Wahlberg approached another Asian man on the street, Hoa Trinh, and punched him in the eye. He called him, among other things, "gook" and "slant eye." Trinh lost sight in his right eye.