Convicted felon (on 34 counts) Donald Trump will be retaking the office of the President of the United States of America on January 20th. Ahead of his inauguration, he has been making a number of cabinet announcements. One of them has everyone truly puzzled- appointing “special ambassadors” to Hollywood.
“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 announced on his Truth Social account. “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! These three very talented people will be my eyes and ears, and I will get done what they suggest. It will again be, like The United States of America itself, The Golden Age of Hollywood!”
It’s hard to know what Trump means claiming Hollywood “lost much business over the last four years to Foreign Countries.” The American film industry is incredibly robust and American films routinely do tremendous business overseas. In fact, the American box office is almost universally dominated by domestic pictures. We put more movies and television films out into the world than we take in. What’s more telling is that Trump says over the last “four years” which is an oddly specific timeframe to note, except for the fact he’s talking about the years that President Joe Biden has been in office.
Then there’s the issue of appointing Voight, Gibson, and Stallone to these positions. None of these actors have been particularly relevant or successful over the last several years. Outside of appearing in “Ray Donovan” Jon Voight hasn’t been a noteworthy Hollywood presence for ages other than his vocal support of Trump. Gibson has been floundering in the direct to video/streaming market, as well as appearing in “The Continental” “John Wick” prequel series. He is moving forward with a possible “Lethal Weapon 5,” and a “Passion of the Christ” sequel- “Jesus 2: Electric Boogaloo.” (We’re kidding, the title is actually “The Passion of the Christ: Resurrection.”)
Gibson, who himself is a bit of a problem, was taken by surprise by all this stating, “I got the tweet at the same time as all of you and was just as surprised.”
Stallone is the only one of the three who could be considered successful, in a current sense. His show “Tulsa King” is doing well for itself on Paramount+, and he was great in “Creed” and “Creed II,” but even those films are ten and seven years old respectively.
The only thing these three actors have in common is their public support of the former President. It’s unclear what their actual roles within his administration will be.
