US President-elect Donald Trump has appointed three movie stars to be special ambassadors tasked with promoting business opportunities in Hollywood.
“I am honored to announce Jon Voight, Mel Gibson, and Sylvester Stallone as Special Ambassadors to a great but very troubled place, Hollywood, California,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
“They will serve as my special envoys for the purpose of bringing Hollywood, which has lost so much business over the past four years to foreign countries, back, bigger, better and stronger than ever before!”
All three famous figures have recently been linked to Trump and his campaign. It is unclear what their roles will include.
Gibson, 69, said in a statement that he received the news “at the same time as all of you and was completely surprised.”
“However, I am answering the call. My duty as a citizen is to offer the assistance and insight I can.”
Gibson, who recently lost his home in the Los Angeles wildfires, added: “Is it possible that the position will be accompanied by an ambassadorial residence?”
The Braveheart and Mad Max star publicly endorsed Trump in a video released shortly before the November election. He also criticized Vice President Kamala Harris, who was Trump’s Democratic rival in the presidential race.
Stallone, 78, best known for playing the titular character in the Rocky film series, introduced Trump at Mar-a-Lago in his post-election victory speech.
He likened the president-elect to the first American leader, describing him as “George Washington II.”
“Without him, can you imagine what the world would look like?” He said.
He added that Washington – who held the presidency from 1789 to 1797 – did not realize that he would change the world when he defended his country.
Voight, 86, who starred in the films “Midnight Cowboy” and “Pearl Harbor,” is a longtime supporter of Trump and described him as the greatest president since Abraham Lincoln.
It’s been a tough few years for Hollywood with the Covid pandemic, multiple labor strikes, and competition with streaming services.
Lucas Shaw, a longtime Hollywood analyst, doesn’t think the new envoys can do much to help the struggling industry.
“he [Trump] He sees them as allies, and he can use them to talk about change in Hollywood, but I don’t imagine you’ll have Jon Voight, Sylvester Stallone, and Mel Gibson trying to figure out how to get the cable package back, or make one. “Streaming is more profitable, or figuring out how to get China to import more Hollywood movies.”
Trump’s relationship with Hollywood has been full of tension and controversy.
Shaw told the BBC that the entertainment industry was partly responsible for bringing Trump back to prominence through his reality show “The Apprentice”, as it boosted his image as a smart businessman.
Trump’s ascension to the White House changed the dynamic, putting him at odds with the politics of much of the industry.
“Hollywood tends to donate to and support Democrats more than Republicans, so it’s an effective industry to criticize,” Shaw said.
It’s also easy to “portray these rich fat cats who don’t have your best interests in mind.”
In August 2019, during his first term, Trump criticized the film industry as “racist” and accused it of producing “very dangerous” films.
His comments stemmed from controversy prior to the release of the film The Hunt, an action horror film about a group of elites who hunt people for sport.
Speaking outside the White House, he said Hollywood was doing “tremendous damage to the country” by producing content that incites violence and division.
The following year, Trump targeted the Oscars for selecting the South Korean film Parasite as best picture.
He wondered how a foreign film could win the highest honor and pointed out that it did not deserve it.
Trump’s stance on immigration, climate change and social justice has drawn sharp criticism from major celebrities and faced the wrath of stars such as Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro.
Some of his policies also targeted Hollywood, including pushing to end film production tax breaks in some states.
The announcement of his special ambassadors to Hollywood comes just four days before his inauguration in Washington, D.C., on January 20.
Los Angeles – the heart of the entertainment industry – is currently struggling to contain deadly wildfires that have destroyed thousands of homes and buildings and left many businesses struggling to recover.
Damage is estimated at $250 billion (£204 billion).