Fact Check: Sylvester Stallone Turned Down Work with Robert De Niro Over His 'Wokeness'?

Claim:

Several social media posts on X and Facebook accurately reported in early 2024 that actor Sylvester Stallone backed out of a project with Robert De Niro because De Niro is "too woke."

Rating:

Labeled Satire ( About this rating? )

In April and May 2024, several posts on X claimed that actor Sylvester Stallone had turned down a $1 billion project with Robert De Niro because Stallone doesn't "work with woke people." One such post had received more than 158,000 views, 12,000 likes and 2,100 replies, as of this writing:

he X posts repeated a claim published in January 2024 on Facebook, where the SpaceX Fanclub page shared an image with a headline telling the same story:

(Facebook page SpaceX Fanclub)

Commenters then expressed their support for Stallone, with one exclaiming "Stallone for the winnnnnnn!!!!!" and another calling for De Niro to leave the United States: "Comrade Deniro. Go back to Russia."

The pinned comment on the Facebook post linked to a story on Esspots.com that began:

Breaking: Sylvester Stallone Withdraws from $1 Billion Project With "Creepy" Robert De Niro

In a surprising turn of events, Hollywood is abuzz with the news that Sylvester Stallone has decided to withdraw from a colossal $1 billion project featuring Robert De Niro. The unexpected departure is not only making headlines for its financial implications but also for the use of terms like "too much woke" and "creepy" to describe De Niro.

However, this story was not a factual recounting of real-life events. It originated on a website that describes its output as being humorous or satirical in nature:

Welcome to Esspots.com, a website that specializes in satire, parody, and humor. Before you proceed to read our content, we would like to emphasize that nothing on this website is real. All of the articles, stories, and commentary found on Esspots.com are entirely fictitious and created for the purpose of entertainment only.

…

Our articles and stories often use exaggeration, irony, and sarcasm to make a point, and should not be taken seriously. We do not endorse any political or social views presented on this website, and our content is not meant to be a substitute for actual news or information.

The Facebook account that shared the viral post had a similar disclaimer on its main page :

We post SATIRE, nothing on this page is real.

For background, here is why we sometimes write about satire/humor.

Sources:

Robin, Alex. 'Breaking: Sylvester Stallone Withdraws from $1 Billion Project With "Creepy" Robert De Niro'. Esspots , 9 Dec. 2023, https://esspots.com/breaking-sylvester-stallone-withdraws-from-1-billion-project-with-creepy-robert-de-niro144/ . Accessed 1 Mar. 2024.

'Disclaimer'. Esspots , https://esspots.com/disclaimer/ . Accessed 1 Mar. 2024.