Tulsa King: Sylvester Stallone Allegedly Made Disparaging Remarks About Background Actors

On Monday, April 8, Atlanta-based casting company CL Casting shared in a statement that they have parted ways with Paramount+ crime drama “Tulsa King.” The statement didn’t just come a few weeks before production of season 2 commenced, it came after allegations that the lead actor Sylvester Stallone, and executive director Craig Zisk made disparaging comments about background actors emerged online.

Prior to that, on Sunday, April 7, Rose Locke Casting who was hired to provide young actors of about 18 to 30 years for the upcoming season, took to their Facebook page to share that they will no longer be a part of the show, “We wanted to send you an update on the happenings here in our casting world. We have chosen to part ways with Tulsa King. We will be finishing up next week and the 12th will be our last day. We send well wishes to whomever takes over the show. We thank all of you great background artists for your continued support,” they wrote.

At 2:48 pm on Monday, TV writer Julie Benson who had nothing to do with the series took to Facebook to share screenshots of posts supposedly from some background actors claiming that Stallone and Zisk made the set a “clear toxic environment.” One of the screenshotted posts claimed they observed the 77-year-old actor beckoning the director over and saying, ‘What the f— is up with these f—ing ugly background'” actors, the post also alleged that the two proceeded to call certain people terrible names and laughed at them.”

Zisk already denied the allegations to TMZ by saying that there were no disparaging remarks against the background actors whatsoever. Zisk went on to say that Rose Locke brought in the wrong casting age to the set instead of younger ages and when asked to get a headshot of each cast she refused on the grounds that that’s not how she works, then, an hour later she quit.

Tulsa King — What One Of The Background Actors Had To Say

In an exclusive interview with “Deadline,” one of the background actors Thomas Mooneyham shared how he felt he was the target of the disparaging remarks because although he didn’t hear the comments directly from Stallone, the comments hit home in that it was a description of himself.

According to Mooneyham, “I was seated at a table with another gentleman, like we were listening to the band, Stallone’s table with the other main characters was diagonal from ours, about 12 feet away. I did notice that he looked at me a time or two and he talked with, I guess, the director and laughed with him and all. But I didn’t put anything together.”

He continued, “Then we were moved from the scene and replaced with the younger cowboy and a good looking cowgirl. Now does that bother me? Not in the least. What bothers me is that somebody overheard him and the director. It ain’t even the part that I am fat. I wasn’t the only big one that was there. But I do feel like I was singled out because they said ‘old tub of lard with the cane.’ I was the only one there with the cane.”

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Mooneyham would later tell the outlet that he uses a cane because of “bone on bone” pain in his knee. It didn’t take long for the news of the poor conduct on the set of “Tulsa King” to make rounds online. A Facebook page run by “Dee Dee McDaniel Simmons of South Carolina” made a lengthy post about it saying;

“Several groups are talking about what happened on the set of Tulsa King filming in Atlanta. At first I had hoped it was just a bad rumor started by 1 person who may have felt some type of way; but there have been countless people who were on set and have stated what they saw, how they were treated, etc. Sadly Sly Stallone and crew made things miserable for the background artists and many have said the set was completely unprofessional and a total mess. Although I have not personally worked with Rose Locke & CL Casting…I have great respect for them for pulling out of the project and looking out for their background artists.”

Be sure to catch up on everything happening with Tulsa King right now. Come back here often for all the Tulsa King’s spoilers, news, and updates.