Mark Wahlberg posted a video on Instagram in front of a gym claiming that staff was not there to greet him Sunday morning at 3 a.m. when he expected to use the facility — and now the gym's owner wants to set the record straight. The South Carolina gym's owner, Lou Puleo, says he first thought he was being spammed after seeing the video on Sunday. "I was like, 'That's not true!'" the "Workout Anytime" owner told The Augusta Chronicle.
Wahlberg said someone from his team called earlier to arrange for them to workout, but nobody was there to let them in. He also scolded the business for not having staff on site 24/7.
Puleo says "nobody made the appointment. We've worked hard to build a good reputation, and in 30 seconds he tries to destroy it," Puleo says of Wahlberg. "That's just not right." But Puleo, a retired U.S. Marine colonel, says the last thing he wants to do is start a social media fight, especially against someone with 20 million followers. "I don't want to disparage Mark Wahlberg. I think he's a great guy. I enjoy his films," Puleo says. "But for him to go off like that, given his social media status, is rather unfair without stepping back and saying … 'Let me give them a chance to explain why I'm standing here at 3 a.m. and no one's here.'" No response from Wahlberg's people yet.