Donald Trump has tapped three of his longstanding celebrity supporters – Mel Gibson, Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone – to purportedly make Hollywood “stronger than ever before” as “special ambassadors” to the movie capital.
The president-elect announced the new appointments, whose duties remain unclear, on Truth Social on Thursday, four days before his inauguration. “It is my honor to announce Jon Voight, Mel Gibson, and Sylvester Stallone, to be Special Ambassadors to a great but very troubled place, Hollywood, California,” he wrote.
“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!”
Trump has long decried Hollywood, which saw celebrities overwhelmingly support Kamala Harris in the 2024 election. He made the announcement as wildfires continue to devastate southern California and significantly disrupt the film and television industry. Many in Hollywood have lost their homes in the fires, which has killed 25 people, displaced tens of thousands and hampered businesses, with costs estimated at over $250bn.
His post appears to reference the declining US box office, which has struggled to recover from the pandemic and the dual writers/actors strikes in 2023. Last year’s haul of $8.7bn was down 3.3% from 2023 and 23.5% from 2019, the last full year before the Covid pandemic.
Like the president-elect, the three new “special ambassadors” are no stranger to controversy. Gibson, a major star of the 1980s and 90s, has never reached the same heights after he was recorded making racist and antisemitic remarks during a 2006 DUI arrest. Voight, arguably Trump’s most outspoken supporter in Hollywood – and awarded a National Medal of the Arts by Trump in 2019 – described his estranged daughter Angelina Jolie’s support of Gazan refugees as the result of “propaganda” from “antisemitic people”.
Stallone, meanwhile, supported Trump on the 2024 campaign trail, where he called the Republican candidate a “second George Washington”.
“We’re in the presence of a really mythical character,” he said at the America First Policy Gala in Palm Beach, Florida, in November. “Nobody in the world could’ve pulled off what he pulled off, so I’m in awe.”
It is unclear if the Hollywood trio will attend Trump’s inauguration on Monday in Washington DC. The ceremony will feature the former American Idol champion and country music star Carrie Underwood singing America the Beautiful. Other performers include the country singer Jason Aldean and longtime Trump supporter Kid Rock.
