According to a recent Reuters report, Sylvester Stallone, considered a front runner for the supporting actor Oscar for recreating his role as Rocky Balboa in “Creed,” had second thoughts about going to the Oscars after hearing that actor Will Smith and director Spike Lee said they would not attend in protest. Stallone, Reuters reported, asked Creed director Ryan Coogler (who is black) if he should go, and Coogler told him to “[j]ust go there and try to represent the film… [E]ventually things will change.”
Stallone, 69, is the only person from “Creed” to be nominated for an Oscar, although Coogler both wrote and directed the film, and Michael B. Jordan starred in the movie’s lead role.
This is Stallone’s second Oscar nomination. The first was 40 years ago when he was nominated for writing and performing the lead role in his 1976 movie “Rocky,” which went on to win the best picture Academy Award without giving him an award.
According to the Reuters report, Stallone said he owed his success to in the movie to Jordan and Coogler, who along with every other black, Latino and Asian-American actor, were overlooked– again– when the Academy announced its nominees last month.
