Cover PALM BEACH, FLORIDA - NOVEMBER 14: U.S. President-elect Donald Trump greets actor Sylvester Stallone onstage at the America First Policy Institute Gala held at Mar-a-Lago on November 14, 2024 in Palm Beach, Florida. The annual event supports Grey Team, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing military suicide. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
PALM BEACH, FLORIDA - NOVEMBER 14: U.S. President-elect Donald Trump greets actor Sylvester Stallone onstage at the America First Policy Institute Gala held at Mar-a-Lago on November 14, 2024 in Palm Beach, Florida. The annual event supports Grey Team, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing military suicide. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
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The 47th president of the United States and reality show star has big plans to influence the entertainment industry and align it with his political and economic agendas
Donald Trump, president of the United States and occasional actor, is again dipping his toes into Hollywood, apparently taking a cue from South Korea and China and realising that the enormous potential of the US entertainment industry in bolstering his administration’s soft power.
A few days before his official presidential inauguration, Trump announced via Truth Social that he wanted Hollywood to be “stronger than ever before.” With this goal in mind, he also appointed Jon Voight, Mel Gibson, and Sylvester Stallone as Hollywood's ambassadors.
“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! These three very talented people will 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!”
Apparently, the three actors were not given prior notice of their appointment, with Gibson stating that he found out on Twitter. However, the beleaguered Lethal Weapon star did say he was ready to help in however way he could, jokingly asking if the role came with an ambassador's residence.
Both Voight and Gibson publicly endorsed Trump during his 2024 campaign. Stallone, on the other hand, did not promote Trump in either of his two candidacies and declined to become Chair of the National Endowment for the Arts in 2016. However, after Trump's second win, Stallone called him a “mythical character” and the “second George Washington.”
All three were once considered titans of the entertainment industry. The 86-year-old Voight has won numerous awards for his work, including an Oscar and a National Medal of Arts. He has, however, endured public spats with his daughter Angelina Jolie and hasn't worked since 2022.
Meanwhile, Gibson, 69, has kept a low profile since he fell from favour after he was shown unleashing an anti-Semitic rant during a drunk-driving arrest in 2006. In 2010, leaked tapes showing him screaming racist diatribes at his then-girlfriend. Gibson has managed to bounce back somewhat, having directed the Oscar-nominated film Hacksaw Ridge, starring Andrew Garfield. Gibson was also one of the celebrities who lost their home in the California fire.
Out of all three ambassadors, Stallone has managed to maintain a steady reputation, taking his fame to the 21st century with nostalgic projects like the Creed franchise and the Expendables and crowdpleasers like Guardians of the Galaxy. Now 78, he remains active in the industry and has several projects lined up.
While Trump has not specified exactly what a Special Ambassador to Hollywood entails, he has openly critiqued Hollywood's liberal-leaning culture and its influence on American society. By appointing right-wing figures like Voight, Gibson and Stallone, he could be trying to counterbalance the predominantly liberal voices in the industry.
