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Sylvester Stallone has defended the casting of his daughter in the TV series Tulsa King, while admitting that the hire was a case of “nepotism”.
The Rocky star, 80, plays the lead in the Taylor Sheridan-created crime drama on Paramount+, and serves as one of the show’s executive producers.
Scarlet Rose Stallone, one of three daughters from Stallone’s third marriage (to model Jennifer Flavin), appears in a recurring role in the series as Spencer, who is hired as a bartender by Stallone’s character, Dwight.
While the prevalence of so-called “nepo babies” – a term often used to refer to children of celebrities who themselves enter show business – remains a somewhat criticised trend in modern Hollywood, Stallone was defiant as he explained his reasoning for the hire.
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Sylvester Stallone, Scarlet Rose Stallone, Sophia Rose Stallone and Sistine Rose Stallone attend the 2017 Golden Globes afterparty (Getty Images for InStyle)
“First they go, ‘Nepotism is terrible,’” said Stallone in a recent interview with USA Today. “I said, ‘Oh please, you’re not a good parent if you haven’t performed a little nepotism. Then obviously you don’t care about your kids, because they come first.’
“Of course it’s nepotism, you idiot. That’s why we’re parents. We want the best for our children. So obviously, we let them have every advantage.”
He went on to say, however, that there are limits to the influence a famous parent can have over their children’s success, and that longevity in the industry ultimately comes down to talent.
Stallone in ‘Tulsa King’ (PA)
Can they maintain that level of excellence?,” he asks. “That’s out of our hands. But if you can open the door, we’ll see if they have the ability to go through it.
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“People will say, ‘She got that job, it’s too easy.’ You’re right. Perhaps it could be. But to maintain that, to be in front of millions of people, you either got it or you don’t.”
Tulsa King debuted on Paramount’s streaming service back in 2022, and is currently partway through its fourth season.
A spin-off series, titled Frisco King and starring Samuel L Jackson, is currently in development.
Stallone had three children with Flavin, whom he married in 1997: Sophia, Sistine, and Scarlet.
He also had two sons from his first marriage, to Sasha Czack: Seargeoh and Sage Moonblood Stallone, who died of heart disease in 2012 at the age of 36.