Sylvester Stallone says he had no idea he’d been named a special ambassador to Hollywood until he saw it on television, and once he found out, he told President Donald Trump he wanted no part of it.
In a post on Truth Social on Jan. 16, 2025, days before his second inauguration, Trump announced that Stallone, Mel Gibson and Jon Voight would serve as “Special Envoys” tasked with being his “eyes and ears” in Hollywood and advising him on bringing film and television production back to the United States.
Stallone told The Sunday Times in a recent interview that he learned about the appointment the same way everyone else did.
“I was watching TV one night, and they go, ‘So Stallone and Mel Gibson and Jon Voight will be …’ And I went, ‘What?’ I said, ‘Excuse me? Really?’ Because if they had asked me in the beginning, I would have said, ‘This is not possible,'” Stallone said.
Asked if he had reservations after the announcement, the 80-year-old “Rocky” star didn’t mince words. “Yes. Yes, because Hollywood, I guess it’s like feudal states,” he said. “They have their little kingdoms. You don’t go in and tell six studios how to do things. And Mel Gibson and Jon Voight, we’re kind of do-our-own-thing people. No, it won’t work.”
Stallone said he eventually laid it out for Trump directly. “I said thank you and ciao, because it’s impossible,” he said. “Hollywood works, and it will evolve. It’s corporate, and corporate people won’t want to hear me tell them about finance.”
In his original post naming the three actors, Trump wrote it was his “honor” to announce them as “Special Ambassadors to a great but very troubled place, Hollywood, California,” saying the industry had “lost much business over the last four years to Foreign Countries” and pledging that “I will get done what they suggest.”
Gibson, 70, said at the time he was just as surprised as anyone else. “I got the tweet at the same time as all of you and was just as surprised,” he told Variety in January 2025. “Nevertheless, I heed the call. My duty as a citizen is to give any help and insight I can.” He also joked, “Any chance the position comes with an Ambassador’s residence?”
Stallone’s skepticism about the role hasn’t dented his relationship with Trump. Days after the November 2024 election, Stallone introduced then-president-elect Trump at the America First Policy Institute Gala at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, calling him “a really mythical character” and comparing him to the nation’s first president.
“We’re in the presence of a really mythical character. I love mythology. And this individual does not exist on this planet. Nobody in the world could have pulled off what he pulled off, so I’m in awe,” Stallone said. “When George Washington defended his country, he had no idea that he was gonna change the world. Because without him, you could imagine what the world would look like. Guess what? We got the second George Washington.”
Stallone was later named a 2025 Kennedy Center honoree, with Trump personally selecting him alongside George Strait, KISS, Gloria Gaynor and Michael Crawford. Stallone’s political giving has not been strictly partisan; records show he has donated to both parties over the years, including to Joe Biden and the Democratic National Committee as well as to Republicans.
Voight, a longtime and vocal Trump supporter, has taken the ambassador role seriously, meeting with the White House and pushing for a federal film tax incentive with the help of his manager, Steven Paul, and Paul’s associate Scott Karol.
After meeting with all three actors last month, Trump endorsed a federal production incentive, writing on Truth Social on Aug. 31 that “Hollywood is a Complete and Total Disaster” with “no incentive” for productions to stay in the U.S. He called on lawmakers from both parties to “immediately craft Legislation to save the Movie, Television, and Entertainment Business in America.” Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff and Rep. Laura Friedman, both of California, have voiced support for the proposal.
Asked by The Hollywood Reporter this month whether Stallone and Gibson had been involved in the lobbying effort, Voight said, “They’ve been very busy, both of those guys actually have been extremely busy.” Paul, who joined the interview, added that “Sly’s been doing his TV show, but Sly’s been very involved and he signed our letter.”
