Sylvester Stallone Offered to Boycott This Year’s Oscars

Actor says he consulted “Creed” director Ryan Coogler, who urged him to attend ceremony despite #OscarsSoWhite uproar

Sylvester Stallone

Sylvester Stallone said Monday that he considered boycotting this year’s Oscars over the lack of diversity among this year’s nominees.

Stallone, a Best Supporting Actor nominee for the “Rocky” sequel “Creed,” said he spoke to the movie’s director, Ryan Coogler, who is African American, about whether he should skip the ceremony in solidarity with Hollywood figures like Will Smith and Spike Lee who have chosen to sit out the event.

“I remember I spoke with Ryan Coogler when this happened and I said, ‘How do you want to handle this? Because I feel like you are responsible for me being here,’” Stallone said before the luncheon honoring this year’s Oscars nominees.

“I said, ‘If you don’t want me to go, I won’t.’ He said, ‘I want you to go.’ That’s the kind of guy he is,” Stallone said. “He wanted me to stand up for the film.”

Stallone wrote and starred in the Best Picture-winning original “Rocky” but has never won an Oscar himself.

The actor also praised the Academy’s efforts to improve the diversity of its membership, announced in the wake of the #OscarsSoWhite uproar over this year’s nominations. “There’s a universal law of existence — you either adapt or cease to exist,” he said.

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