Mel Gibson reveals his ‘surprise’ as Donald Trump names three actors as White House envoys

Mel Gibson, Sylvester Stallone and Jon Voight have been announced as special envoys to the White House, acting as ambassadors for Hollywood.

President-elect Donald Trump revealed their new positions, which have been created for this administration, on his own social media website Truth Social, sharing that he hoped they would help to bring the “great but very troubled” Hollywood back “stronger than ever”.

“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 wrote.

“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!”

“I got the tweet at the same time as all of you and was just as surprised,” Mel said in a statement to HELLO! 

“Nevertheless, I heed the call. My duty as a citizen is to give any help and insight I can. Any chance the position comes with an Ambassador’s residence?”

Mel, Jon and Sylvester were all big Hollywood stars in the 1980s and have had middling success in recent years.

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Mel, who found global fame in the Lethal Weapon franchise, was a Hollywood darling until 2006 when he was arrested after being pulled over while driving under the influence of alcohol. 

Anti-semitic comments he made to Jewish police officer James Mee made headlines across the globe. He was also accused of domestic abuse by his ex-wife Oksana Grigorieva, and a string of leaked telephone recordings appeared to show the dad-of-nine using racist language and threatening Oksana.

He was blacklisted from Hollywood for over a decade, a relationship that only began to thaw following the release of Oscar-nominated Hacksaw Ridge in 2016.

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Sylvester has never been a member of the Republican or Democrat part, and has donated to candidates for both. 

But after Trump’s win in the 2024 election, the action star attended an event at Mar-a-Lago, and praised the President-elect as a “mythical character” and the “second George Washington”, as well as comparing him to his iconic film character Rocky Balboa.

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Jon, the father of Angelina Jolie, has been a Republican for several years after spending much of the 1960s and 1970s protesting the Vietnam War and supporting leftist parties globally.

In May 2019, the Ray Donovan actor released a two-part video on Twitter supporting Trump’s policies, and calling him “the greatest president since Abraham Lincoln”.  He also accused President Joe Biden of stealing the 2020 election.

Trump will be inaugurated on January 20, 2025 after winning the 2024 election against Kamala Harris.