The SAG Awards came under fire on Sunday night after Mark Wahlberg presented the top award to the majority Asian cast of Everything Everywhere All at Once.
The absurdist comedy-drama dominated at the annual awards ceremony, bagging several big wins ahead of the Academy Awards next month.
Michelle Yeoh, the lead in the movie, was named best actress, beating the likes of Hollywood veteran Cate Blanchett.
Wahlberg presented the final award of the night, which was the gong for outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture.
Ultimately, the award went to the predominately Asian cast of Everything Everywhere All at Once.
Check out the moment Mark Wahlberg presented the award:
It's not sitting well with many viewers at home that the 51-year-old Father Stu actor presented the award given his violent past.
In 1988, a 16-year-old Wahlberg spent 45 days behind bars for attacking a Vietnamese man. He was initially charged with attempted, BBC News reports.
The actor shared in interviews that he managed to turn his life around after his brief stint in prison.
But more than three decades later, the irony of Wahlberg handing over the prize to the cast was not lost on viewers at home. They felt that this was a tone deaf move by the SAG Awards - especially since Asian representation in film and TV has become more of a focus in recent years.
One person wrote: "I gotta say, having Mark Wahlberg, who literally went to jail as a teen for committing a hate crime against a Vietnamese man, present an award to the cast of Everything Everywhere All At Once was certainly a choice."
Another wrote: "They really had mark wahlberg whom got arrested for beating up a Vietnamese man a long time ago present best ensemble to an film with a lot of Chinese American actors in it."
A third penned: "Friendly reminder that Mark Wahlberg violently attacked two Vietnamese men and I think it is quite obtuse that he was the one to announce Everything Everywhere All At Once as the winner of the SAG award tonight."
Back in 2014, Wahlberg addressed his past behaviour, telling AP: "I have apologized, many times.
"The first opportunity I had to apologize was right there in court when all the dust had settled and I was getting shackled and taken away, and making sure I paid my debt to society and continue to try and do things that make up for the mistakes that I’ve made."
Experts have weighed in on whether Wahlberg can be forgiven for his actions. They say that it's up to the victim to decide whether they want to forgive someone they've been wronged by.
Counseling psychologist T.M. Robinson-Mosley previously told USA Today: "Contrary to popular belief, people seem to think that forgiveness is something that we should give automatically, or that it means that we are going to forgive and forget or we excuse the harm that someone has done to us.
"But the realistic aspect of it is that if we're real with ourselves, the pain and disappointment might always still be with us. But when we're ready to forgive, forgiveness can minimize the hurtful impact."
