In the latest issue of Men’s Journal, the actor said that he would have handled things differently had he been on one of the planes downed by terrorists.
Wahlberg's 9/11 comments were widely criticized and he quickly apologized. Speaking to Kidd Kraddick in the Morning on Friday, he explained it as such:
“I would never disrespect the victims of 9/11 or their families. It was misunderstood. My only intention was to explain that I would do anything to protect my family – I would put myself in harms way to protect my family or innocent people."
"That was it. First and foremost, I am not speaking as an actor."
"I am a real guy from the streets and I’ve been in a lot of situations, so I was very out of line and I wasn’t thinking about the real heroes and the guys, women, children, fathers, sons, daughters who were on those flights.”
This came up because Wahlberg was initially booked on one of the flights hijacked out of Boston on 9/11/01, before serendipitously moving his flight.
"If I was on that plane with my kids, it wouldn't have went down like it did," he told the magazine. "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.'"
His comments greatly offended some victims of 9/11.
"People are much more vigilant now than they were on 9/11," Mary Shetchet, a spokesperson for the support group Voices Of 9/11, explained.
"10 years later it easy to say you would have responded differently.”
