(Left) Actor Jon Voight in Los Angeles on Sept. 23, 2024; (Center) Actor and filmmaker Mel Gibson at the DGA Theater Complex in Los Angeles on Sept. 24, 2024; (Right) Sylvester Stallone attends amfAR Las Vegas at Wynn Las Vegas in Las Vegas on Nov. 22, 2024. Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images for Lionsgate; Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images; David Becker/Getty Images
President-elect Donald Trump has announced three iconic actors—Jon Voight, Mel Gibson, and Sylvester Stallone—to serve as his special envoys to Hollywood, while signaling his mission to revitalize the U.S. film industry and restore its global dominance.
“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,” Trump wrote in a Jan. 16 post on social media.
“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!”
Trump said the three special envoys will serve as his “eyes and ears” in Hollywood, advising him on strategies to revitalize the entertainment industry and restore its former glory.
“It will again be, like The United States of America itself, The Golden Age of Hollywood!” Trump wrote.
Voight, an Academy Award-winning actor known for roles in “Midnight Cowboy” and “Coming Home,” has been a prominent conservative voice, championing traditional values and supporting Trump and his policies. A critic of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, he called the 2024 presidential election the “war of our lifetime” in an August 2024 video post on social media platform X and said the United States would be “in trouble” if Harris were to win.
President Donald Trump (R) presents actor Jon Voight with the National Medal of Arts at a ceremony in the East Room of the White House on Nov. 21, 2019. Mark Wilson/Getty Images
Gibson, a two-time Academy Award-winning actor and director, has long advocated for traditional storytelling in Hollywood. Gibson has criticized the film industry for losing touch with its roots and endorsed Trump in the presidential race. During a recent interview on Joe Rogan’s podcast, Gibson decried the state of affairs in southern California and said San Francisco has been turned into an “apocalyptic” mess.
Mel Gibson arrives at the UK premiere of "Daddy's Home 2" at Vue West End in London on Nov. 16, 2017. John Phillips/Getty Images
Stallone, who starred in the Rocky and Rambo franchises, is also a supporter of the president-elect. After Trump won the presidential race, Stallone compared him to President George Washington, predicting that Trump’s presidency would be world-changing.
Sylvester Stallone attends the Warner Bros. premiere of "The Suicide Squad" at Regency Village Theatre in Los Angeles on Aug. 2, 2021. Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images
Hollywood’s creative freedom and integrity have recently come under scrutiny, with questions about the degree to which foreign entities, particularly the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), have influenced the industry’s content.
According to a March 2024 episode of EpochTV’s “International Roundtable” program featuring a panel of experts, the CCP recognized Hollywood’s power following the global success of the film “Titanic” and used its connections to whitewash human rights abuses and present a favorable image of communist China. This alleged subversion is contrasted with Hollywood’s early days under the Hays Code, which set strict content guidelines until its erosion in the 1950s and replacement by the modern ratings system in 1968, which ushered in a more permissive era.
While Trump has not yet laid out his vision for revitalizing Hollywood, he has been critical of the CCP and its influence in the United States.
Tom Ozimek
Reporter
Tom Ozimek is a senior reporter for The Epoch Times. He has a broad background in journalism, deposit insurance, marketing and communications, and adult education.
