Mark Wahlberg Claims Roger Goodell Called Him to Complain About Ballers
Photo By Ben Margot / AP
Tom Brady may not be the only New England star who’s having issues with Roger Goodell.
During a recent interview with ESPN’s Mike & Mike, actor and diehard Patriots fan Mark Wahlberg claimed that the NFL commissioner called him to complain about his HBO show Ballers, which he serves as an executive producer on.
The fictional comedy series, starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Rob Corddry, deals with the off the field drama of hig-profile football stars. Apparently something about Ballers riled up Goodell and a few team owners.
“The first season of the show, the only calls I was getting were from guys like Roger Goodell saying, ‘You can’t do this,’ and various owners in the league,” Wahlberg said. “We were saying it’s actually a good thing for the league and the players because hopefully you’ll get the word out there with the crazy stuff and the financial side of it and hopefully get these guys to realize that they’ve got to be more careful with what they do with their money.”
NFL senior vice president of communications Natalie Ravitz refuted the claim in a series of posts on Twitter.
It makes for a nice story but this call from @nflcommish never happened @THR https://t.co/ghNwYR5XZp
— Natalie Ravitz (@NFLNatalie) July 17, 2016
It makes for a nice story but this call from @nflcommish never happened @BleacherReport https://t.co/EtBCv0qhO5
— Natalie Ravitz (@NFLNatalie) July 17, 2016
Love Marky Mark (good vibrations is a classic) but this call from @nflcommish never happened @Deadspin https://t.co/ukALTsGAOM
— Natalie Ravitz (@NFLNatalie) July 17, 2016
While Wahlberg didn’t elaborate on what Goodell took issue with, it wouldn’t be a surprise if it had to do with NFL players appearing on the show. Ballers has featured cameos by several stars in the past, and the actor teased appearances by “countless Patriots” in season two.
“I can’t say what they’re doing or who it is yet, because it’s a surprise and I don’t want to spoil the finale,” Wahlberg said.
Corddry recently told Boston magazine that Rob Gronkowski was one Patriots star who stopped by the set during filming, however he won’t be appearing on the show this season.
“He was hanging out on set because he was in Miami. That was a dream come true,” Corddry said. “He doesn’t show up in the season, unfortunately, but a couple of Patriots do.”
