Mark Wahlberg blasted for using taxpayer’s cash instead of his own, to pay staffers

Hollywood star Mark Wahlberg is the latest celebrity to be facing flak to be using taxpayer’s money to pay his London restaurant staffers.

Despite having a net worth of £240million, the actor furloughed his Wahlburgers staff located at Covent Garden in London and paid them through the taxpayer's money.

Wahlberg decided to make use of the UK government’s furlough scheme to pay employees in his restaurant, which he opened last year with brothers Paul, who is a chef, and Donnie, an actor.

“Mark’s decision to not personally bail out his staff has raised eyebrows, especially given how much he’s worth,” said a source cited by The Sun.

“A lot of the staff wondered if he’d help top up their wage packets but that hasn’t happened either,” the insider added.

“Everyone is grateful they’re getting a salary as obviously this is a difficult time. But when other stars like Ed Sheeran are helping out their staff using their own wealth it looks pretty bad.”

“There had been talk of expanding the business, with up to ten more restaurants across the rest of the UK, but that’s now all on hold,” it was further revealed.

A Wahlburgers rep had confirmed that the owners are using Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s scheme: “The restaurant industry has been hit incredibly hard because of this pandemic.”

“As a franchise organization, each individual Wahlburgers franchise has had to make decisions whether to keep its doors open or close indefinitely while we all navigate these challenging times together.

“The franchise group that owns Wahlburgers Covent Garden made the decision to use the Furlough scheme for their employees in hopes that the large team and Central London site can be retained without permanent closure.”