On Thursday, November 14, 2024. Rocky star Sylvester Stallone began to trend on X after a video showed him hailing President-elect Donald Trump as the “second George Washington.” Stallone’s remarks stemmed from a warm-up speech at the Mar-a-Lago gala on Thursday to celebrate Trump’s election victory.
During the speech, Stallone described Trump as a “mythical character” adding, “Nobody could have pulled off what Trump did.” Stallone was then seen embracing Trump before the precedent-elect delivered a victory speech.
Sylvester Stallone’s effusive praise has raised questions about his political party affiliation. Search engine Google witnessed a spike in the search term “Is Sylvester Stallone a Republican or Democrat?”
In 2012, CBS reported Sylvester Stallone was a registered Republican. However, Sylvester Stallone has struggled to call himself a member of the GOP. The CBS report stemmed from Stallion supporting John McCain’s 2008 presidential run. However, in a 2016 Variety interview, Stallone said he’s not a member of the GOP. He added:
“May the best fighter win. I don’t think you can be totally one-sided forever. Then you close your mind to all sorts of possibilities. It’s just, ‘Who comes along better at that time for what the planet is going through?’ Right now, it’s pretty confusing on every side.”
Is Sylvester Stallone a Trump Supporter?
In 2019, Stallone told Variety that despite growing up in a politically agnostic household, his fans always believed he was a Republican due to his on-screen persona.
In a 2021 interview with The Sunday Times' Stephen Armstrong, Stallone bemoaned that his character Rocky resonated with republican voters who assumed he was a conservative due to the patriotic characters he portrayed onscreen. He said:
"I didn't even know what a Republican or a Democrat was until I was 30 years old. I really didn't until I went to Hollywood. I didn't know wrapping myself in a flag in 'Rocky' would throw down the gauntlet."
However, despite Stallone’s reluctance to call himself a member of the GOP, he has historically supported Republican candidates, including Republican Sen. John McCain’s run for president in 2008.
In 2016, Stallone also declared he loved Trump during the president-elect's presidential run. He told Variety:
“I love Donald Trump. He’s a great Dickensian character. You know what I mean? There are certain people like Arnold, Babe Ruth, that are bigger than life. But I don’t know how that translates to running the world.”
However, Stallone said he did not vote in the 2016 election. In 2018, boxer Jack Johnson, the first black world heavyweight champion, received a posthumous presidential pardon from Donald Trump following a personal appeal from Stallone.
Meanwhile, Stallone’s praise for Trump in the recent event comes a month after claims the President-elect had a bizarre rivalry with the Rocky star. Author Ramin Setoodeh, who interviewed Trump several times for his book, alleged when asked about Stallone working with the television producer on the boxing reality show, The Apprentice star said, he’s “better than Sylvester Stallone at being a reality star.”
Trump allegedly added:
Trending
“Sylvester Stallone wasn’t as good at making TV…couldn’t remember his lines, couldn’t deliver the words to the prompter.”
Meanwhile, Stallone, who was described as "the most anti-gun celeb in Hollywood" by Daily Beast, told the Sunday Times that "you can't take guns away", but encouraged responsible use.
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