Mark Wahlberg no longer thinks he could have turned 9/11 into a plot out of one of his action movies and has issued an apology, saying "to suggest I would have done anything differently than the passengers on that plane was irresponsible."
The "Contraband" star was originally scheduled to board a plane on 9/11 but changed his flight so he could attend the Toronto Film Festival.
He landed in hot water after telling Men's Journal that he would have battled the hijackers and rescued the people on board if he had been a passenger.
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"If I was on that plane with my kids, it wouldn’t have went down like it did," Wahlberg 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.’”
Needless to say, the families of victims of the terrorist attack did not take kindly to Wahlberg treating the tragedy like the plot of one of his blockbuster thrillers.
Deena Burnett-Bailey, The widow of United Airlines Flight 93 passenger Thomas Burnett, took Wahlberg to task.
"The plan for Flight 93 was foiled by heroes," Burnett-Bailey told TMZ. "For him to speculate that his presence on board could have stopped everything is silly and disrespectful. Sounds like someone is grandstanding.". In the wake of the backlash, he's issued an apology:
In his apology, Wahlberg said: "I deeply apologize to the families of the victims that my answer came off as insensitive, it was certainly not my intention.”