JD Vance honors Sylvester Stallone’s legacy in film with heartfelt message

Vice President JD Vance honored actor Sylvester Stallone’s legacy with a truly wonderful, warm message.

Stallone has starred in some of the biggest pictures ever produced, including ‘Rocky’ and ‘Tulsa King,’ and Vance honored him for his legacy of not only great movies, but of telling the stories of “normal Americans” too.

Watch:

Vice President JD Vance delivers a heartfelt message to the legend Sylvester Stallone, honoring his career defined by grit, resilience, and the true spirit of America.

This is extremely powerful:

“He’s told stories about normal Americans, about the grit, about the resiliency,… pic.twitter.com/OfpYyFEVLw

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) December 6, 2025

“So a lot of you know Sly Stallone from the big screen or from the small screen. This is a guy who has dominated film and television for decades and he’s done it by doing what few people, whether they’re directors or producers or writers, or Hollywood screen have done,” Vance said to the crowd. “He’s told stories about normal Americans, about the grit, about the resiliency, about the virtues that actually make the American nation tick, and what makes the American people one of such incredible character.”

“If I think about why my grandmother, the woman who raised me Sly, why she loved she loved your movies so much. It’s because she didn’t see people like us on the big screen that much. She saw working-class people, people of humble beginnings, people who worked their asses off and made the American dream a reality, not because it was handed to them, but because they worked hard, had good support, and they got a little lucky along the way,” he continued. “That, to me, is the legacy of your entire career in film and television, and that is the legacy the Kennedy Center will be celebrating over the next few days.”

“And you can tell how good Sly is at capturing that American, normal guy aesthetic by the dialogue. And some of the greatest lines in film- I actually have them in my notes, I don’t even need them in my notes because I know some of them,” the vice president said. “For example, life is not about how hard you can hit, but about how hard you can get hit and get back up and keep moving forward. You know, I think there was a line from ‘Rocky,’ you didn’t deliver it but I believe you wrote it because you wrote the whole damn movie. It goes something like, I’m not here to run a soup kitchen, I’m here to run a godd**n business. Maybe not the best line for Christmas but that’s okay. It’s still a very important American line.”

He concluded his heartfelt speech with a holiday message for the Stallone family, and everyone else gathered.

“Let me just say to all of you, but especially to Sylvester Stallone and your incredible family, Merry Christmas. And may we be as courageous as your people have been for a very long time.”

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