Donald Trump named Sylvester Stallone among his “special envoys” to Hollywood. The actor once said he wasn’t “qualified” for Washington.

• President-elect Donald Trump has named Sylvester Stallone, Mel Gibson and Jon Voight as his “special envoys” to Hollywood.

• In 2019, Stallone said Trump asked him to run the organization that distributes government grants for art.

• Stallone said he was “not qualified” for a job in Washington.

Donald Trump named Sylvester Stallone as one of his “special envoys” to Hollywood, but the actor previously said he was “not qualified” or interested in a position in Washington.

On Thursday, the president-elect announced on Truth Social that Stallone, Mel Gibson and Jon Voight were his ambassadors to Hollywood.

Trump wrote: “They will serve as my special envoys in an effort to bring Hollywood, which has lost a lot of business over the past four years to foreign countries, BACK – BIGGER, BETTER AND STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE ! »

Trump added that they will be his “eyes and ears” and that he will “do what they suggest.” He did not specify what the new positions would entail.

In 2019, Stallone told Variety that in 2016, Trump offered him the job of director of the National Endowment of the Arts – the organization responsible for distributing government arts grants.

Stallone declined and said, “I’m really not qualified and I also don’t want to be in Washington or be involved in anything because I really believe that actors, sometimes, I think, are a little too emotionally involved.

Stallone has not publicly commented on Trump’s announcement and his representatives did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.

In a statement to BI, Gibson said through a representative: “I received the tweet at the same time as all of you and was just as surprised. Nonetheless, I responded to the call .My duty as a citizen is to provide whatever assistance and insight I can. Is there a chance that the position will come with an ambassadorial residency?

Voight, who has been a staunch Trump supporter since 2016, said in a statement to BI through his representative: “I’m old enough to have touched a few years of Hollywood’s golden age, and I’ve seen his slow deterioration since Today, we are in a pretty bad situation Very few films are made here, but we are lucky to have a new president, who wants to restore Hollywood to its former glory, and with his. help, I think we can achieve.

“Now we’ve been through these horrible fires and our morale is at an all-time low, but we are resilient. We will help each other and rebuild. Love to everyone across the country who came to our aid.”

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