Trump inauguration: Jake and Logan Paul make surprise appearance, ‘Mr Ambassador’ titles for Hollywood heavyweights
Trump appeared on Rogan’s Joe Rogan Experience podcast last year, which earned early 40 million views on YouTube in three days and was credited as significantly helping the new President’s campaign.
Comedian and podcaster Theo Von, who openly congratulated Trump on his podcast, was also spotted at the inauguration.
The event was also a chance for the new President to formally acknowledge three Hollywood heavyweights he had previously picked to play a role in his administration.
Trump declared Jon Voight, Mel Gibson and Sylvester Stallone must be addressed as “Mr. Ambassador” from now on.
The President recently announced he was planning to appoint the three actors, who have been staunch supporters of his political campaigning, to be “special envoys” to Hollywood, and at the ‘Make America Great Again Victory Rally’ in Washington DC on Monday he explained they would receive accompanying honorific titles.
He said on stage towards the end of his speech: “Also, with us tonight is a great actor, tremendously talented guy, Jon Voight, who’s great, and a friend of mine”.
“And Sylvester Stallone is here — great guy. And you know I got Mel Gibson, Sylvester Stallone, and Jon Voight to become ambassadors to Hollywood, California to put it back on track. So they’re all ambassadors. You have to refer to them as ambassadors, ‘Mr. Ambassador.’”
Hours before Trump — who was reinaugurated as President today had given his speech, Voight had addressed the rally himself and told those assembled the Apprentice star would “make America great again, safe again”.
He added: “We the people will honour our flag again”.
The 86-year-old star hailed Trump’s re-election as the “greatest win of all time”.
He said: “The victory we were all fighting for to save our country, our democracy. I’m so grateful to say that Donald J Trump is the 47th President of the United States…
“I’m proud to call the President of the United States my friend, our friend; my hero, our hero. A man who never gave up on the American people, and we the people, never gave up on him.
“God bless Donald Trump, and may God watch over him, and may he be sworn into the White House with the blessings of the Almighty.”
Trump announced the Hollywood trio would get a place in his administration on Truth Social last week.
He wrote: “It is my honour to announce Jon Voight, Mel Gibson, and Sylvester Stallone, to be Special Ambassadors to a great but very troubled place, Hollywood, California.
“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!
“These three very talented people will be my eyes and ears, and I will get done what they suggest. It will again be, like The United States of America itself, The Golden Age of Hollywood!”
Braveheart star Gibson — who lost his Malibu home to the wildfires in Los Angeles — admitted he had not been aware of the position until Trump made the announcement but he would “heed the call”.
He said in a statement: “I got the tweet 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. Any chance the position comes with an ambassador’s residence?”
And Megalopolis star Voight praised Trump’s decision.
He told Entertainment Weekly: “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”.
“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 it done.”
– Additional reporting by NZHerald