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Sylvester Stallone rubbishes reports saying he joined Donald Trump Mar-a-Lago Club: 'It NEVER ever happened'

The 'Rocky' star has also in the past refused to identify himself either as a supporter of Trump or the Republican Party

Former president Donald Trump reportedly has a glamorous new joinee at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach last week in the form of Sylvester Stallone. According to a report from Page Six that cited insiders, the 74-year-old actor-director-producer, who attended a 2016 New Year’s Eve party at Mar-a-Lago, has now become a member of the club which is owned by Trump since 1985. The former president also shifted his base to the property after his tenure at the White House ended in January. Stallone, however, has denied the reports that he has joined the former president's club. 

The ‘Rocky’ was also seen posing with some fellow guests for pictures with all holding up their fists like boxers. According to Insider, Stallone reportedly paid a fee amount of $200,000 to become a member of the posh club. The liberal voices slammed Stallone over the report with some even calling him a "zero" in comparison with actor Will Smith whose production pulled a film out of Georgia over its controversial new voting law. According to local reports, Stallone or “Sly” as he is called, bought a sprawling compound worth $35 million near the Mar-a-Lago Club. He once owned a home on Miami’s Biscayne Bay but reportedly started hunting for a new residence in Palm Beach last year. An Instagram video also surfaced that showed the veteran artiste recording words in front of what appeared to be his home in Palm Beach, a fact-detecting website Snopes said. 

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Stallone came up with his version in an Instagram post on Tuesday, April 13, in which he posted a screen shot of the Page Six article titled 'New-ish Palm Beach resident Sylvester Stallone joins Donald Trump’s Mar-A-Lago club' and captioned it saying: "I would like to say to everyone that this never happened. This is just not true. It NEVER ever happened." The legend added: "I mean no disrespect to anyone, I'm simply not a member. So Keep Punching Folks."

Stallone's representative Michelle Bega also confirmed on Tuesday that Stallone had not joined Mar-a-Lago. 

Stallone met Trump at Oval Office in 2018

This is not the first time that Stallone has been seen close to Trump. In May 2018, Stallone visiting the Oval Office to meet Trump, then the president, as the latter granted a posthumous pardon to Jack Johnson, boxing’s first Black heavyweight champion, over a century-old criminal conviction on racial grounds. While Trump had credited Stallone with championing Johnson’s pardon, the latter said the legendary boxer was behind the creation of the character Apollo Creed in his iconic ‘Rocky’ films. “This has been a long time coming,” he had said.

Is Stallone a Trump supporter?

Does Stallone joining Trump’s club mean he is a supporter of the former president and his Republican Party? According to The Focus, Stallone feels it is not so. “Trump is, of course, a Republican. Does this mean that Sylvester Stallone, by happily associating himself with Mar-A-Lago, is also a supporter of Trump’s party? Well, according to the man himself, no,” it reported. 

In an interview with Variety in 2019, Stallone said: “I didn’t even know what a Republican was until I did Rambo, I swear to you. I had a politically agnostic household.” In another interview with the same outlet the same year, Stallone said that when former GOP President Ronald Reagan saw the 'Rambo' franchise and made remarks about it, Stallone was labeled as a GOP sympathizer by the fans. 

“Once President Reagan went, ‘I saw Rambo, and he’s a Republican!’” Stallone said with a visible disbelief, according to the journalist.

Trump, too, according to Stallone, wanted him in his campaign. He said the former president had offered him a chance to join his campaign to “endow the arts”, referring to The National Endowment for the Arts -- an independent federal scheme to back artistic initiatives. Stallone said he refused the offer because he felt “actors can get too emotionally involved” and that he didn’t vote in either in the 2016 election and said then he would not in 2020 one.

In January 2016, Variety reported that Stallone, who voted for GOP candidate John McCain in the 2008 presidential election, said he loved Donald Trump and felt the latter is a “great Dickensian character”. 

Stallone, in fact, also called President Joe Biden a “great guy” and said he is “not at all a Republican even though people think I’m so hardcore right”.

Stallone’s on-screen rival Arnold Schwarzenegger, on the other hand, has been into active politics. He has served as Republican governor of California but has also been a vocal critic of Trump.

Stallone slammed over his joining Trump's club

Legal analyst Glenn Kirschner tweeted: "Today’s Hollywood scoring: Will Smith is a hero and Sylvester Stallone is a zero. Smith and Apple Studios pull out of film project in Georgia. Stallone supports criminal ex-president by joining Mar-a-Lago. Thank you Will. Shameful Sly. Let’s spread the word."

Writer Tony Posnanski said: "Sylvester Stallone’s brother Frank threatened to shoot David Hogg when David was 17. Why would anyone think Sylvester is any better?" Radio host Dana Loesch said: "So Stallone plays golf at Mar-a-Lago and wokescolds want to cancel him. Pretty sure Stallone doesn't GAF what anyone thinks of where he golfs."

Political commentator Chris Hahn said: "Seeing Sylvester Stallone join The Former Guy's club proves once and for all that he did his own stunts and has the brain damage to prove it." Lawyer-comedian and journalist Dean Obeidallah said in a tweet: "Sylvester Stallone watches Donald Trump incite a terrorist attack upon our nation and now wants to support Trump even more." Another user said, "His mind is a little Rocky these days."