Sylvester Stallone has revealed that he never wanted to be one of Donald Trump’s “special ambassadors” to Hollywood and rejected the position contrary to the president’s public remarks.
Speaking with The Sunday Times, the actor recalled meeting with Trump about the gig. “I said, ‘Thank you and ciao,’ because it’s impossible. Hollywood works, and it will evolve. It’s corporate, and corporate people won’t want to hear me tell them about finance.”
Trump announced in early 2025 that Mel Gibson, Jon Voight and Stallone were going to be the special envoys to Hollywood. Despite having walked away from the ambassadorship, Stallone found out Trump had named him as one of the ambassadors while watching TV.
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“I was watching TV one night and they go, ‘So Stallone and Mel Gibson and Jon Voight will be’ ” the Rocky creator recalled. “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 explained his reasoning, saying Hollywood is “like feudal states,” and adding, “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.”
The Hollywood special ambassadorship, “It won’t work,” Stallone said.
Actor Jon Voight seems to have made some headway in the position, however. He’s been using the ambassadorship to push for a federal tax credit for US made film and television productions, telling The Hollywood Reporter earlier this month “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,” and “It will be immediate.”
That seems to have resonated with Trump who bragged on social media in late August about meeting with Voight and setting up bipartisan meetings to try to get a film and television tax credit passed.
“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,” Trump said. “Congress should approve, immediately, a Federal Production Incentive to create Entertainment Jobs in America.”