Walberg - 911Comments Not In Context

Wahlberg Blames Reporter for Taking 911 Comments out of Context

Mark Wahlberg has hit out at the magazine reporter who recently quizzed him about the 911 terrorist attacks because he only sat for the interview to promote his new movie.

The actor hit headlines on Wednesday (18Jan12) when an excerpt from his chat with the upcoming issue of Men's Health was released online, in which The Fighter star claimed he would have done more to overcome the terrorist hijackers who flew a plane into New York's Twin Towers.

He told the publication, "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.'"

Wahlberg, who had originally been booked on United Airlines Flight 175, one of the planes targetted by terrorists on September 11, 2001, was forced to issue an apology later on Wednesday, insisting he did not mean to cause offense with his "ridiculous" statements.

Now the actor is blaming the Men's Health writer for steering the interview off-course and taking his 911 comments out of context as he tried to promote Contraband.

Appearing on America's Kidd Kraddick Radio Show on Friday (20Jan12), he explained, "I don't go out doing publicity for movies or a magazine cover talking about what's important to me. I want to promote the movie and whatever questions they want to ask me I am more than comfortable talking about. But it wasn't a Q&A (question and answer) where it was the exact question and my exact response. It was somebody's interpretation of it and you know... that's not OK because I don't want people to be offended. I would never do that".

Wahlberg was also uncomfortable with the sexual content included in the interview.

He adds, "This guy is asking me about sexual questions and I'm married and I have four kids, how inappropriate is that?"