Wahlberg, who underwent three years of physical training for his role in The Fighter, may have started to believe his own hype or perhaps was just expressing his desire to get even with the terrorists who waged war on America in 2001.
“If I was on that plane with my kids, it wouldn’t have went down like it did. There would have been a lot of blood in that first-class cabin and then me saying, ‘OK, we’re going to land somewhere safely, don’t worry,'” the actor told Men’s Journal magazine.
Wahlberg was due to be on one of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2011 and made the comments in that context, but after a widow of one 9/11 victim called his comments “disrespectful,” he issued a formal apology.
“Does Mark Wahlberg have a pilot’s licence?” Deena Burnett-Bailey told TMZ. “Then I think hindsight is 20/20 and it’s insignificant to say what you would have done if you weren’t there.”
Burnett-Bailey has said her husband, Thomas Burnett, rang her from the plane and said he and two other men planned to storm the cockpit.
Wahlberg said he hadn’t meant to cause any offence or disrespect.
“To speculate about such a situation is ridiculous to begin with, and to suggest I would have done anything differently than the passengers on that plane was irresponsible. I deeply apologize to the families of the victims that my answer came off as insensitive, it was certainly not my intention,” Wahlberg said.
The actor has spoken about his lucky escape before. In 2006, he said, “We certainly would have tried to do something to fight. I’ve had probably over 50 dreams about it.”
