Donald Trump Vows to Help ‘Troubled’ Hollywood with Mel Gibson, Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone

This combination of pictures created on January 16, 2025 shows US actor Jon Voight in Hollywood, California, August 20, 2024, US actor and filmmaker Mel Gibson in Los Angeles on September 24, 2024, and US actor Sylvester Stallone in New York City on November 9, 2022. (AFP)
This combination of pictures created on January 16, 2025 shows US actor Jon Voight in Hollywood, California, August 20, 2024, US actor and filmmaker Mel Gibson in Los Angeles on September 24, 2024, and US actor Sylvester Stallone in New York City on November 9, 2022. (AFP)
TT
20

Donald Trump Vows to Help ‘Troubled’ Hollywood with Mel Gibson, Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone

This combination of pictures created on January 16, 2025 shows US actor Jon Voight in Hollywood, California, August 20, 2024, US actor and filmmaker Mel Gibson in Los Angeles on September 24, 2024, and US actor Sylvester Stallone in New York City on November 9, 2022. (AFP)
This combination of pictures created on January 16, 2025 shows US actor Jon Voight in Hollywood, California, August 20, 2024, US actor and filmmaker Mel Gibson in Los Angeles on September 24, 2024, and US actor Sylvester Stallone in New York City on November 9, 2022. (AFP)

Donald Trump wants to make Hollywood "bigger, better and stronger" and has cast Mel Gibson, Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone as stars of what he is calling his "Special Ambassadors to a great but very troubled place, Hollywood, California."

On Wednesday, the President-elect announced on his social media site that the three actors would be his eyes and ears to the moviemaking town.

"It will again be, like The United States of America itself, The Golden Age of Hollywood!" he wrote on Truth Social.

He also called the trio special envoys. Special ambassadors and envoys are typically chosen to respond to troubled hot spots like the Middle East, not California.

Gibson said in a statement that he got the news "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."

Gibson, who lost his home in the Palisades fire, added, "Any chance the position comes with an Ambassador’s residence?"

US film and television production has been hampered in recent years, with setbacks from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hollywood guild strikes of 2023 and, in the past week, the ongoing wildfires in the Los Angeles area. Overall production in the US was down 26% from 2021, according to data from ProdPro.

In the greater Los Angeles area, productions were down 5.6% from 2023 according to FilmLA, the lowest since 2020. This past October, Governor Gavin Newsom proposed expanding California’s Film & Television Tax Credit program to $750 million annually (up from $330 million). Other US cities like Atlanta, New York, Chicago and San Francisco have used tax incentives to lure film and TV productions to their cities. Actor Mark Wahlberg is even making plans for a Las Vegas production hub.

"I’m old enough to have touched some years of the Golden Age of Hollywood, and I’ve seen its slow deterioration since. Today, we are in pretty bad shape," Voight said. "Very few films are made here now, but we are fortunate to have an incoming President, who wants to restore Hollywood to its former glory, and with his help, I feel we can get done."

It’s unclear what exactly Gibson, Voight and Stallone will be doing in this effort to bring productions back to the US Representatives for Stallone did not immediately respond to request for comment.

Trump’s decision to select the actors as his chosen "ambassadors" underscores his preoccupations with the 1980s and '90s, when he was a rising tabloid star in New York, and Gibson and Stallone were among the biggest movie stars in the world.

Stallone is a frequent guest at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club and introduced him at a gala in November shortly after the election.

"When George Washington defended his country, he had no idea that he was going to change the world. Because without him, you could imagine what the world would look like," Stallone told the crowd. "Guess what? We got the second George Washington. Congratulations!"

The decision also reflects Trump’s willingness to overlook his supporters’ most controversial statements.

Gibson’s reputation has been altered in Hollywood since 2006, when he went on an antisemitic rant while being arrested for allegedly driving under the influence. But he’s also continued to work in mainstream movies and directed the upcoming Wahlberg thriller "Flight Risk."

Voight is a longtime Trump supporter who has called Trump the greatest president since Abraham Lincoln.



Disney Sues Hong Kong Company It Says Is Selling Illegal Mickey Mouse Jewelry

Mickey Mouse balloons are displayed at Disneyland Paris in Chessy, France, June 8, 2018. (AP)
Mickey Mouse balloons are displayed at Disneyland Paris in Chessy, France, June 8, 2018. (AP)
TT
20

Disney Sues Hong Kong Company It Says Is Selling Illegal Mickey Mouse Jewelry

Mickey Mouse balloons are displayed at Disneyland Paris in Chessy, France, June 8, 2018. (AP)
Mickey Mouse balloons are displayed at Disneyland Paris in Chessy, France, June 8, 2018. (AP)

The Walt Disney Co. on Wednesday sued a Hong Kong jewelry company it accuses of selling illegal Mickey Mouse jewelry.

The international media and entertainment conglomerate filed a lawsuit in federal court in Los Angeles against the Red Earth Group, which sells jewelry online under the name Satéur.

Disney says the marketing and branding of the rings, necklaces and earrings in Satéur's “Mickey 1928 Collection” violate its trademark rights and that the Hong Kong company is deliberately trying to fool customers into thinking the pieces are official Disney merchandise.

Satéur, the suit alleges, “intends to present Mickey Mouse as its own brand identifier for its jewelry merchandise and "seeks to trade on the recognizability of the Mickey Mouse trademarks and consumers’ affinity for Disney and its iconic ambassador Mickey Mouse.”

A message seeking comment from representatives of the Red Earth Group was not immediately answered.

The lawsuit is indicative of Disney's dogged efforts to protect its intellectual property from unauthorized appropriation. Although the earliest version of Mickey Mouse entered the public domain last year after Disney's copyright expired, the company still holds trademark rights to the character.

Lawyers for Disney argue in the suit that Red Earth’s online marketing efforts “extensively trade on the Mickey Mouse trademarks and the Disney brand” with language that includes describing the jewelry as great for “Disney enthusiasts.”

Such tactics indicate Red Earth was “intentionally trying to confuse consumers,” the lawsuit says. The impression created, it says, "suggests, at a minimum, a partnership or collaboration with Disney.”

The earliest depiction of Mickey Mouse, who first appeared publicly in the film short “Steamboat Willie” in 1928, are now in the US public domain. The widely publicized moment was considered a landmark in iconography going public.

The lawsuit alleges that Red Earth and Satéur are trying to use that status as a “ruse” to suggest the jewelry is legal, by dubbing it the “Mickey 1928 Collection” and saying it is being sold in tribute to the mouse's first appearance.

The centerpiece of the collection, the suit says, is a piece of jewelry marketed as the "Satéur Mickey 1928 Classique Ring,” which has a Steamboat Willie charm sitting on the band holding a synthetic stone.

But there is an essential difference between copyright, which protects works of art, and trademark, which protects a company's brand.

Even if a character is in the public domain, it cannot be used on merchandise in a way that suggests it is from the company with the trademark, as Disney alleges Red Earth is doing.

“Disney remains committed to guarding against unlawful trademark infringement and protecting consumers from confusion caused by unauthorized uses of Mickey Mouse and our other iconic characters,” Disney said in a statement Wednesday.

The lawsuit seeks an injunction against Red Earth selling the jewelry or trading on Disney's trademark in any other way, along with monetary damages to be determined later.