Did Sylvester Stallone pull the wool over Donald Trump's eyes, play to celebrity vanity or was there a promised exchange of goods and services over the posthumous pardon of boxing legend Jack Johnson?
I say this because in less than two weeks of the pardon. Stallone just announced the formation of a new company along with Braden Aftergood, an executive producer of the hit Hell or High Water, to form Balboa Productions.
It was weird seeing Stallone smack in the middle during the whole photo-op with Trump signing the pardon.
Why was Stallone so involved in promoting this pardon when even Barack Obama didn’t pardon the former African-American boxing champ?
Well, now we know.
If you said a new Jack Johnson biopic was the reason, you would be right.
Balboa Productions comes with a project already in development, and it’s not far from Stallone's wheelhouse: a biopic on Jack Johnson, the first African-American heavyweight champion.Johnson was in the news recently as President Donald Trump pardoned the boxer, who in 1913 was convicted of taking his white girlfriend across state lines in a racially motivated move to take down the man. Stallone was one of those that beseeched the president for the pardon and was on hand for the official act.
Trump either got played by Stallone or was promised some type of renumeration.
Sly didn’t even wait a decent amount of time before making this announcement. He got the pardon and immediately used the publicity over Trump signing it to promote his new project.
Stunning.
