US President-elect Donald Trump has appointed three movie stars as special ambassadors tasked with promoting business opportunities in Hollywood.
“I am pleased to announce that I am appointing Jon Voight, Mel Gibson, and Sylvester Stallone as special ambassadors to a great but deeply troubled place, Hollywood, California,” President Trump said on his platform Truth Social. I feel honored.”
“They will serve as my emissaries with the goal of bringing back Hollywood, which has lost so much business to foreign countries over the past four years, bigger, better, and stronger than ever!”
All three celebrities have recently been linked to President Trump and his campaign. It is unclear what their roles will be.
Gibson, 69, said in a statement: “I received this news at the same time as all of you and was just as shocked as you.”
“Nonetheless, I heed the call. My duty as a citizen is to provide any assistance and insight I can.”
Mr. Gibson, who recently lost his home in the Los Angeles wildfires, added: “Is there any chance that the ambassador’s residence could do the job?”
The Braveheart and Mad Max star publicly supported Trump in a video released just before the November election. He also criticized Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump’s Democratic rival in the presidential race.
Stallone, 78, best known for playing the main character in the Rocky series, introduced Trump at Mar-a-Lago in his post-election victory speech.
He likened the president-elect to America’s first leader, calling him “the second George Washington.”
“Can you imagine what the world would be like without him?” he said.
He added that Washington, who served as president from 1789 to 1797, did not believe that defending his country would change the world.
Mr. Voight, 86, who starred in “Midnight Cowboy” and “Pearl Harbor,” is a longtime supporter of Mr. Trump, calling him the greatest president since Abraham Lincoln.
The past few years have been difficult for Hollywood, with the coronavirus pandemic, multiple labor strikes, and competition from streaming services.
Lucas Shaw, a longtime Hollywood analyst, doesn’t think the new envoy will do much to help the struggling industry.
“He (Trump) sees them as allies, and he can use them to talk about changes in Hollywood, but he doesn’t want Jon Voight, Sylvester Stallone, Mel Gibson to figure out how to bring them back. “I don’t think we’re going to do cable bundles, or make streaming more profitable, or figure out a way to get China to import more Hollywood movies.”
Trump’s relationship with Hollywood has been fraught with tension and controversy.
Mr Shaw told the BBC that the entertainment industry was partly responsible for Mr Trump’s renewed profile, with his reality show The Apprentice reinforcing his image as a savvy businessman.
Trump’s accession to the White House has shifted the dynamics, putting him at odds with many industry politicians.
“Hollywood tends to donate to and support Democrats more than Republicans, which makes it an effective industry to criticize,” Shaw said.
It’s also easy to “portray yourself as a rich, fat cat who doesn’t have your interests in mind.”
In August 2019, during his first term, President Trump criticized the movie industry, calling it “racist” and accusing it of producing “very dangerous” movies.
His comments stem from the controversy surrounding the release of The Hunt, an action-horror film about an elite group of people who hunt humans for sport.
Speaking outside the White House, he said Hollywood was doing “a huge disservice to the country” by producing content that incited violence and division.
The following year, President Trump selected the South Korean film “Parasite” for Best Picture, giving it a shot at the Academy Award.
He questioned how a foreign film could win top honors and suggested it was undeserved.
Trump’s stance on immigration, climate change and social justice has drawn sharp criticism from major celebrities, and he has faced the ire of stars such as Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro.
Some of his policies target Hollywood, such as pushing to eliminate tax breaks for film production in certain states.
The Hollywood special ambassador’s announcement came just four days before he was sworn in on January 20th in Washington, DC.
Los Angeles, a hub for 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.
The cost of damage is estimated at around $250 billion (£204 billion).
