Trump Appoints Mel Gibson, Jon Voight, and Sylvester Stallone as Hollywood Envoys

Trump Appoints Mel Gibson, Jon Voight, and Sylvester Stallone as Hollywood Envoys

President-elect Donald Trump wants to make Hollywood “bigger, better and stronger,” and has tapped Mel Gibson, Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone as “special ambassadors for the great but very problematic place that is Hollywood, California.”

On Wednesday, the president-elect announced on his social media pages that the three actors will be his eyes and ears in the movie city.

“It will again be, like The United States of America itself, The Golden Age of Hollywood!” he wrote on Truth Social.

He also called the three his “special envoys.” Special ambassadors and envoys are usually chosen to deal with conflict zones like the Middle East, not California.

In a statement provided to CBS News Thursday, Gibson said he “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. Any chance the position comes with an Ambassador`s residence?”

Gibson’s Malibu home was destroyed in the wildfires that ravaged the Los Angeles area.

Film and television production in the United States has been disrupted in recent years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a Hollywood union strikes in 2023, and the ongoing wildfires in the Los Angeles area last week. Total U.S. production volume fell 26% compared to 2021, according to ProdPro data.

In the Los Angeles metropolitan area, production numbers fell 5.6% compared to 2023, the lowest since 2020, according to FilmLA. Last October, the Governor of California said: Gavin Newsom has proposed expanding California’s film and television tax credit program from $330 million to $750 million a year. Other American cities, including Atlanta, New York, Chicago and San Francisco, have also used tax incentives to attract film and TV production companies. Actor Mark Wahlberg has also made plans to build a production facility in Las Vegas.

It is unclear what Gibson, Voight and Stallone will do specifically in their efforts to bring productions back to the United States. Representatives for Voight and Stallone did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

President Trump’s choice of actors as his “ambassadors” underscores his intense interest in the 1980s and 1990s, when he was a New York tabloid star and Gibson and Stallone were the biggest movie stars in the world.

Stallone is a frequent visitor to President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club, and introduced him at a November gala just after the election.

“When George Washington defended his country, he had no idea that he was going to change the world. Because without him, you could imagine what the world would look like,” Stallone told the crowd. “Guess what? We got the second George Washington. Congratulations!”

The decision also reflects Trump’s willingness to ignore some of his supporters’ most controversial statements.

Gibson’s reputation has been altered in Hollywood since 2006, when he launched into an anti-Semitic rant while arrested on suspicion of drunk driving. But he has continued to work in mainstream films, including filming the thriller “Flight Risk,” starring Wahlberg.

Voight is a longtime Trump supporter who has called Trump the best president since Abraham Lincoln.

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