Mel Gibson 'Surprised' by Trump Naming Him Hollywood ‘Ambassador’: ‘I Got the Tweet at the Same Time as All of You’

Mel Gibson said he was "surprised" to learn that Donald Trump named him, Sylvester Stallone and Jon Voigt "special ambassadors" to Hollywood, which he called a "great but very troubled place."

"I got the tweet at the same time as all of you and was just as surprised," Gibson, whose Malibu house was destroyed in the Los Angeles fires, told Fox News Digital. "Nevertheless, I heed the call. My duty as a citizen is to give any help and insight I can. Any chance the position comes with an Ambassador’s residence?"

The president-elect, 78, made the announcement on his Truth Social platform on Thursday, Jan. 16, when he revealed that the three actors will be his "eyes and ears" as they serve as his special envoys for the entertainment industry in the upcoming term.

"They will serve as Special Envoys to me for the purpose of bringing Hollywood, which has lost much business over the last four years to Foreign Countries, BACK—BIGGER, BETTER, AND STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE," Trump wrote. "I will get done what they suggest. It will again be, like The United States of America itself, The Golden Age of Hollywood."

Trump's transition team did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for further information on the role and what it would require of the actors.

Related: Donald Trump Recreates His Mug Shot in New Official White House Portrait

All three actors have previously expressed support for Trump over the years.

Voight, 86, was appointed by Trump to the board of trustees for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in March 2019, was given a National Medal of the Arts from Trump in 2019, and has referred to the president-elect as "the greatest president since Abraham Lincoln."

Gibson, 69, apparently saluted Trump at a 2021 UFC event and questioned Vice President Kamala Harris' IQ last year, while Stallone, 78, called Trump "the second George Washington" following his election victory during a speech at Mar-A-Lago.

"And I'll just say this, and I mean it. When George Washington defended his country, he had no idea that he was going to change the world," Stallone said at the time. "Because without him, you can't imagine what the world would look like. Guess what? We got the second George Washington. Congratulations!"

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The trio won't be the only special envoys in Trump's administration who started in entertainment. Back in December, the president-elect announced on Truth Social that Mark Burnett — the British television producer behind The Apprentice — would be his special envoy to the United Kingdom.

At the time, Trump wrote that Burnett would "work to enhance diplomatic relations, focusing on areas of mutual interest, including trade, investment opportunities, and cultural exchanges."

Trump's second swearing-in ceremony will take place on Jan. 20 in Washington, D.C. He'll also be holding a "Make America Great Again Victory Rally" at 3 p.m. local time at Capital One Arena on Jan. 19.

The event, which he called “a victory rally you'll never forget," will be his first in Washington, D.C., since the rally that led to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol in 2021.

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