Mel Gibson, John Voight, Sylvester Stallone

On January 20, 2025By Littum

Upper line

President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday named three movie stars — Mel Gibson, Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone — as “special ambassadors” to Hollywood, as the president-elect continues to garner more support from the pop culture world than he did four years ago. .

US President Donald Trump (R) stands with actor Jon Voight outside the Oval Office before leaving … (+) from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC on January 28, 2020.

AFP via Getty Images

Key facts

Trump said in a post on Truth Social that the three will serve as ambassadors to the “great but very troubled place” of Hollywood and will work as his “eyes and ears” on the ground in pursuit of bringing “The Golden Age of Hollywood back” !”

All three actors have expressed support for Trump: In October, when Gibson was asked who he voted for, told TMZ he didn’t think his vote would surprise anyone and that he thought Vice President Kamala Harris had “the IQ of a fence post” and “a lousy track record.”

Voight — the 85-year-old actor best known for “Coming Home” and “Midnight Cowboy” — has been a vocal Trump supporter for years, saying in October “we are now in a time of the darkest plague ever” and called Trump “the only one who will save our country.”

Stallone, for his part, didn’t make his support for Trump all too well known until after Trump won the election, and Stallone introduced him at a gala, calling him “the other George Washington” and saying, “nobody in the world could have pulled what he pulled off.”

Trump’s team did not immediately respond to Forbes’ request for comment on what exactly the role will entail.

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What will Trump’s Hollywood ambassadors do?

It is not clear yet. Trump said in one Truth Social post they will “serve as special emissaries for me for the purpose of bringing Hollywood, which has lost much business over the past four years to foreign countries, BACK – BIGGER, BETTER, AND STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE!” Trump did not provide details on what he would like to change — or how the envoys might fit into his plans — but television and film footage has changed from Southern California to other states and overseas for years as productions are lured to shoot in locations with better tax incentives and lower costs. Filming in Hollywood fell according to last year The Hollywood Reporterwhich also reported last year that other countries such as Canada and Australia have been working to lure gunfire away from California.

Key background

Many big Hollywood names came out to support Harris ahead of November’s presidential election, including actors Viola Davis, Dick Van Dyke, Will Ferrell, Harrison Ford, Leonardo DiCaprio and more. Fewer actors publicly endorsed Trump, although Dennis Quaid, Roseanna Barr and Zachary Levi endorsed him before the election. Trump also has more support from the pop culture world than he had in 2016 or 2020. At least half a dozen musicians including Carrie Underwood and the Village People — who acknowledged their favorite candidate lost — will play his inauguration or related events, a shift from 2017, when The Trump team struggled to find high-level performers. Several athletes have also come out to support him.

Surprising facts

During his first term, Trump gave Voight the National Medal of Arts, the highest award given to arts patrons and artists by the government. He bestowed the honor in 2019, where he also honored musician Alison Krauss, Sharon Percy Rockefeller and military musicians, Associated Press reported.

What to look for

If Gibson, Stallone and Voight show up at Trump’s inauguration events. Trump will return to the White House on Monday and has scheduled events beginning Saturday night.