By Elissa Steedman, ABC
Jon Voight, Mel Gibson, and Sylvester Stallone have been tapped to be Donald Trump's Hollywood "special ambassadors". Photo: AFP / VALERIE MACON and TIMOTHY A. CLARY
Donald Trump has tapped three vocal celebrity supporters in a bid to make Hollywood "stronger than ever before".
The president-elect named Jon Voight, Mel Gibson and Sylvester Stallone to fill the new "special ambassador" appointments on Truth Social on Thursday, local time, four days ahead of his inauguration.
While their duties remain unclear, Trump said the trio will be his "eyes and ears", and he will "get done what they suggest".
"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!
"It will again be, like The United States of America itself, The Golden Age of Hollywood!"
The ambassadors may not have been notified of their new roles in advance.
In a statement provided to Variety, Gibson said he learned of his position through Trump's social media post.
"I got the tweet at the same time as all of you and was just as surprised. Nevertheless, I heed the call. My duty as a citizen is to give any help and insight I can," he said.
"Any chance the position comes with an ambassador's residence?"
The president-elect's post appears to reference Hollywood's post-pandemic revenue struggles.
The US box office was down last year, with revenues of just US$8.7 billion (NZ$15.5b), down 3.3 percent from 2023 and 23.5 percent from 2019, the last pre-pandemic year.
Gibson, Stallone and Voight have each given public support to Trump in recent years.
Donald Trump will officially be sworn in as the new US president on 20 January. Photo: JIM WATSON
At a Mar-a-Lago gala in November Stallone, 78, described Trump as the "second George Washington".
"This man was going to go through a metamorphosis and change lives, just like President Trump," Stallone said of his character Rocky Balboa.
"And I'll just say this, and I'll mean it: When George Washington defended his country, he had no idea that he was going to change the world. Because without him, you can't imagine what the world would look like.
"Guess what? We've got the second George Washington."
In October, paparazzi filmed Gibson, 69, offering his thoughts on Trump's election campaign opponent Kamala Harris while walking through an airport.
"I know what it'll be like if we let her in," Gibson said in video published by TMZ.
"And that ain't good. Miserable track record. No policies to speak of. She's got the IQ of a fence post."
Gibson, who was ostracised in Hollywood for anti-Semitic comments made in 2006, returned to the industry in 2016 by directing Hacksaw Ridge.
He is among several celebrities who recently lost their homes in the massive wildfires still raging around Los Angeles.
Voight, 86, has frequently voiced his support for Trump in social media videos and television appearances.
- ABC
