14 DAY TRIAL // It’s only months that a major US publication went ahead and crowned David Beckham the biggest sports flop America has seen in many years. Now, Hollywood actor Mark Wahlberg is also speaking out against the star, saying unwanted paparazzi attention has been the only thing Beckham has accomplished while in the US so far, as ContactMusic can confirm.
Wahlberg, though, is not picking on the LA Galaxy star just for the sake of it: as the publication informs, the two happen to live roughly in the same neighborhood, which means the crowds of paparazzi always camped there are also interfering with his and his family’s life. As a matter of fact, this is all that Beckham’s contribution amounts to since he first moved to the US a couple of years ago because, as far as sports goes, he barely managed to get Americans’ interest piqued.
“Man, the Beckhams. It used to be so quiet on my road. Then David moves in with his family. Suddenly we’ve got paparazzi hanging out day and night. Now they’ll follow any car that drives down the road...” the actor is quoted as saying. As fans must surely know, Wahlberg hates it when he makes headlines for anything else than his movies, which, of course, includes being hounded by paparazzi and having his picture taken on his personal time, with his family.
The conclusion is that David Beckham might as well consider going back home because he’s been pretty much rendered useless in the US, the actor goes on to say. “I’m not telling Beckham to take his family home. I’m just not sure why he came to America in the first place. Man, we don’t want your soccer. There’s no way Americans are going to buy the idea of 90 minutes of running around without much happening. Thanks for trying guys, but we’ll stick to baseball and basketball.” Mark adds.
Beckham’s move to the LA Galaxy on a contract of no less than £125 million was highly mediated at the time, both in the US and the British media. It was meant to revive Americans’ interest in the sports but the following matches repeatedly proved such a thing was impossible.