Fact Check: Did Sylvester Stallone Call Robert De Niro A ‘Woke Creep?’

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Academy Award winning actor Robert De Niro has come out in full force against Donald Trump recently, speaking out against the former president amid his hush money trial in Manhattan.

The 80-year-old star was joined by two police officers—who were present at the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021—outside the Manhattan Criminal Court last week where De Niro called Trump a “clown,” and accused him of destroying democracy. Trump railed against De Niro in response calling him a “wacko.”

Now, according to a social media post shared by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, De Niro has also supposedly faced the ire of fellow actor, Sylvester Stallone, who was said to have called the Goodfellas star a “woke creep.”

A post on X, formerly Twitter, by Alex Jones, shared on June 2, 2024, included a photo of Sylvester Stallone with the caption “Sylvester Stallone Declines To Work With Robert De Niro on a $1 Billion Project, ‘He’s A Woke Creep.'”

Alex Jones commented alongside, “Love Sylvester Stallone!”

Stallone and De Niro have previously worked together on 2014’s Grudge Match and 1997’s Cop Land. Stallone has previously said that De Niro helped persuade him to make Grudge Match and in turn floated the idea to the Raging Bull actor that he join the long-running Expendables franchise.

Stallone has previously denied becoming a member of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club and, while he visited the former president in the White House, he told Variety in 2019 that he did not vote for Trump, adding that he had been mischaracterized as a staunch Republican.

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The pair are not listed on any upcoming projects according to IMDb, if that is what “$1 billion” project is meant to be, which, if so, would make it the most expensive film ever made.

In any case, the quote is a fake taken from a “parody” website.

Website Esspots published a story with the same claim in December 2023. The article gives no details about the “project,” which it said Stallone had quit, quoting him saying De Niro was “too much woke for my taste” and “creepy.”

While not immediately clear, Esspots states in the “About Us” section of its website that it specializes in “Satire and Parody News,” is a “one-stop destination for satirical news and commentary about the United States of America,” and is dedicated to “bringing you the latest and greatest in fake news and absurdity.”

Stallone has not been quoted anywhere else making this comment.

It is another in a long line of fake claims and stories about public figures despite the underlying source, ostensibly, describing itself as satirical or parody, even when it is not clear what they are meant to be satirizing or making fun of.

Earlier this year, a headline spread that Tom Hanks had his Academy Award stripped, tied to baseless accusations that Hanks was connected to Jeffrey Epstein. The claim came from a “satire” website, even though the article was not identifiable as such.

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