‘What’s wrong with you?’: Mark Wahlberg and Mario Lopez criticised for gym workout after urging fans to stay at home
Fans questioned why it seemed to be one rule for celebrities and another for the general public
Your support helps us to tell the story
This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.
The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.
Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.
Actors Mark Wahlberg and Mario Lopez are experiencing a backlash after they shared a video of themselves working out a gym together.
The pair are among a long list of celebrities who have urged the public to stay at home and practise social distancing to help slow the spread of coronavirus.
However, they have now been accused of hypocrisy after they each posted clips from a workout session at a gym in LA.
Lopez shared the video and promoted the workout as being one that people could do from their own homes or gardens.
“Everyone’s pretty much been cooped up in their home for the last couple of weeks. I think now more than ever since we don’t know when this is going to end, we need to stay active, not just for your physical health but for your mental health,” Lopez says in the video.
“That gazelle right there? My boy, Mark, we’re staying six feet away. This place we’re at right now we have completely to ourselves. It is sanitised, disinfected, we did a heck of a workout F45 style. Homie brought me the batting gloves. We’re good to go.”
The clips show that Lopez and Wahlberg were joined by a woman and a man who filmed them from his phone.
“Teach people from your own homes,” one critic said in the comments section of Lopez’s post “Stay at home for real.”
“Hey narcissist! Why don’t you stay in your mansion and exercise instead of possibly spreading Covid19! What’s wrong with you?? I guess the Gov wasn’t speaking to you?” one said.
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days
New subscribers only. £8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days
New subscribers only. £8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled
Another asked why the gym was open given non-essential businesses have been asked to close during widespread lockdowns.
“How is it open? It’s not essential!” they wrote. “How is it fair that ya’ll can go to a gym to work out but us normal folks can’t?”
Despite their gym session, both Lopez and Wahlberg have continued to urge fans to stay at home.
In one Instagram Story on Friday, Lopez shared an edited photo of a Ticketmaster concert ticket, which replaced the name of the headlining show with “Stay Home and Do Nothing”.
Wahlberg has been sharing ideas for things to do at home via videos and photos with his family.
LA officials ordered the closure of all bars, gyms, and entertainment centres last week, and restricted restaurants to just take-out or delivery service until 31 March at the earliest.
“If something it not an essential activity, I urge you not to do it,'' Dr Barbara Ferrer, head of the county Department of Public Health, said in a news conference on 16 March.
“In the absence of a vaccine, social distancing is the best tool that we have.''
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments