Sylvester Stallone fans are reacting as the actor emerged as a Donald Trump fan and compared him to fictional boxing champion Rocky Balboa.
The week after his fellow action movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger endorsed Trump’s Demoratic rvial Kamala Harris, Stallone, who played Balboa in the Rocky franchise, celebrated the president-elect’s victory at a black tie event attended by numerous controversial figures, including his new health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr.
Stallone delivered a speech before Trump arrived on stage, calling him “a mythical character” and his election win a feat that nobody else “in the world could have pulled off”.
He told guests: “When I made Rocky, if you remember the first image was a picture of Jesus and it said ‘Resurrection, AC Club’. I found a church that had been converted into a boxing ring.
“So the image pans down from Jesus on to Rocky being hit and that moment he was the chosen person, and that’s how I began the journey. Something was going to happen, this man was going to go through a metamorphosis and change lives. Just like President Trump.”
He continued: “We’re in the presence of a really mythical character. I love mythology. This individual does not exist on this planet. Nobody in the world could have pulled off what he pulled off, so I’m in awe.
The comparisons did not stop there, with Stallone branding him “the second George Washington”.
“And I’ll just say this, and I mean it. When George Washington defended his country, he had no idea that he was going to change the world. Cause without him, you could imagine what the world would look like. Guess what? We got the second George Washington. Congratulations.”
In Hollywood, the number of film, TV and music stars who endorsed Harris vastly outweighed the number who pledged their support for Trump – and many of Stallone’s fans have been left displeased by the actor’s support for the latter.
“Lost all sympathy for Stallone, won’t even rewatch Rocky this thanksgiving…” one person wrote, with another adding: “Well, that just ruined Rocky for me.”
An additional fan stated: “What the hell @TheSlyStallone.. you have three daughters. How can you support someone who shows nothing but contempt and disrespect towards women?!”
While there was some praise for Stallone “expressing” himself, many wrote variations of the phrase: “This is why Arnold’s better” – an allusion to the former Republican politician revealing he would be voting for Harris.
The Terminator star, whose credits include True Lies and Predator, wrote: “My Republicans have forgotten the beauty of the free market, driven up deficits, and rejected election results. Democrats aren’t any better at dealing with deficits, and I worry about their local policies hurting our cities with increased crime.”
Schwarzenegger then said he “will always be an American before I am a Republican”, which is why he is voting for Harris and Tim Walz, her vice-presidential running mate.
