Sylvester Stallone Says Hollywood Ignored Middle America 'Since John Wayne' Until Taylor Sheridan Gave It Stories, Fox News Reports

Actor Sylvester Stallone says Hollywood has long overlooked a big audience in the middle of the country, Fox News reports.

What he said. On the podcast "The Rest Is Entertainment," Stallone said Taylor Sheridan, the writer and producer behind "Yellowstone," found success by filling a gap. "That audience was ignored for centuries, it seems, since John Wayne," he said. Sheridan "mined a consciousness like, 'Oh, we forgot about that guy in the middle of America.' They're always writing about California and New York."

The appeal. Stallone said Middle America has "a different vibe," and that "people were starving for it." He described it as "a simpler world and more, I would just say, confrontational."

Streaming. Stallone said he does not think Hollywood has fully caught up with what that audience wants. He credited streaming for being "fast" and "nimble," saying it can "put a show on the air in a matter of weeks."

The biopic. Fox notes that Stallone's own path to making "Rocky" in 1976, after studios resisted an unknown in the lead, is the subject of "I Play Rocky," a 2026 drama directed by Peter Farrelly with Anthony Ippolito as Stallone. Stallone did not take part. He said he feared it would look like an "ego massaging vehicle," and that when he saw the actor playing him, "I thought it was me."

Why it matters here. Many conservatives say entertainment has drifted from the country's heartland. Stallone's remarks come from a prominent star, though he frames it as a gap in what Hollywood makes, not a political one. Fox does not report him mentioning politics.

What we could not check. We did not hear the podcast and rely on Fox's quotes. Stallone's claim that Middle America was ignored "for centuries" is a figure of speech, and we did not test it. The report does not give viewership numbers for "Tulsa King" or "Yellowstone."