Sylvester Stallone is sharing details about U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to appoint him as a Hollywood “special ambassador.”
In January 2025, Trump announced his plans to make Hollywood “stronger than ever before” and named stars Stallone, Mel Gibson and Jon Voight “special ambassadors.”
The Rocky actor said that he didn’t exactly sign up for the role of “special ambassador.”
“Well, it just happened,” the 80-year-old actor said in a recent interview with The Sunday Times. “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 that he told Trump “it won’t work” after the appointment.
He said that he, Gibson and Voight are all “do-our-own-thing people.”
“I guess it’s like feudal states. They have their little kingdoms. You don’t go in and tell six studios how to do things,” the Tulsa King actor said of Hollywood.
“I said thank you and ciao, because it’s impossible. Hollywood works, and it will evolve,” Stallone continued. “It’s corporate, and corporate people won’t want to hear me tell them about finance.”
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Trump named the three actors “special ambassadors” to Hollywood in Truth Social post last year, writing, “It is my honour to announce Jon Voight, Mel Gibson, and Sylvester Stallone, to be Special Ambassadors to a great but very troubled place, Hollywood, California.”
“They will serve as Special Envoys to me for the purpose of bringing Hollywood, which has lost much business over the last four years to Foreign Countries, BACK—BIGGER, BETTER, AND STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE!”
Trump said that the three ambassadors would “be my eyes and ears, and I will get done what they suggest.”
“It will again be, like The United States of America itself, The Golden Age of Hollywood,” he added.
Gibson spoke about the appointment in a statement to Variety following Trump’s announcement, saying, “I got the tweet at the same time as all of you and was just as surprised.”
“Nevertheless, I heed the call. My duty as a citizen is to give any help and insight I can,” he added. “Any chance the position comes with an Ambassador’s residence?”
Earlier this month, Voight told The Hollywood Reporter that he’s used his “special ambassador” role to lobby for a U.S. federal film and television tax credit at the White House.
“If we get on an even keel with the rest of the world’s tax benefits, if we get that break, there’s going to be an explosion of energy,” Voight said of Hollywood. “It will be immediate. As someone mentioned, our business is a shovel-ready business. They will call people tomorrow, people will be getting ready immediately. [Then] it affects the communities they’re working in.
When asked if believes that the golden age of Hollywood would return, Voight said, “Yes, I think it’s going to.”
Voight was also asked if Gibson and Stallone were involved in lobbying for the tax credit.
“They’ve been very busy, both of those guys actually have been extremely busy,” Voight said.
Last month, Trump called for the tax incentive to help the TV and movie industry in the U.S.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said that meetings were “being set up with the Leaders of both Parties in order to get this done.”
“I just had a GREAT and very interesting meeting with my Hollywood Ambassador and Movie Legend, Jon Voight! He is a fantastic man who loves our Country, and feels strongly about the Motion Picture and Television Industry. He hates what’s happened to it! It is being dissipated in its entirety. It has moved to Canada, and other Countries, with very little work being done anymore in the United States,” Trump’s post began.
He said that Hollywood is “a complete and total disaster.”
“Jon, and many others in the Industry, are suggesting we do Federal Tax Incentives in order to Make our Movie and Television Production Business GREAT AGAIN, perhaps GREATER THAN EVER BEFORE,” Trump’s post continued. “The amount of money spent on Tax Incentives will be made up tenfold by the money pouring into the Treasury’s coffers.”
“I am going to suggest that Republicans and Democrats get together, and immediately craft Legislation to save the Movie, Television, and Entertainment Business in America. Congress should approve, immediately, a Federal Production Incentive to create Entertainment Jobs in America. It can be done quickly, accurately, efficiently and, importantly, will benefit ALL of America. What we watch on the Silver Screen should be made in what was once the Movie and Motion Picture Capital of the World. Let’s get this done,” Trump added.
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