Sylvester Stallone Accused Of Disparaging “Ugly” Background Actors On ‘Tulsa King’, But Director Denies Claims

Sylvester Stallone and one of the directors of Tulsa King have been accused of making disparaging remarks about the background actors on the production. The event allegedly spurred casting director Rose Locke to leave the show, but director Craig Zisk denies that this is the case.

According to Deadline, a post on a private Facebook group for background actors in Atlanta claimed Stallone and a director, who was unnamed, were allegedly heard ridiculing the extras, calling them “ugly,” “tub of lard” and “fat guy with cane.”

Stallone also allegedly requested that they instead cast “pretty young girls to be around me.”

In a post on Facebook this weekend, Catrett Locke Casting announced that it would no longer be working on Tulsa King, though they did not share why.

Screenshots shared by television writer Julie Benson, who is not affiliated with the show, showed Locke apologizing for the “toxic environment” she witnessed on set.

“At the end of the day I resigned because a clear toxic environment that I was not comfortable putting myself or background artists in… I want to apologize for anything you experienced,” she wrote, before requesting that people share their “grievances” so she could pass them along to HR.

After the news made headlines, Zisk told TMZ that Stallone did not make such disparaging remarks, and claimed that Locke left the show after she cast extras who were “considerably older” than what they had requested.

According to the director, they had asked for actors who were between 25 and 35 years old to film a scene in a bar. Zisk went ahead and used the extras for the scene, noting they were “polite and did their jobs.” But he said trouble arose when he requested headshots of the extras so they “would vibe with the premise of the film,” per TMZ.

He claimed that Locke refused and told him, “I don’t work that way,” to which he responded, “That’s the way I work and everyone I know works that way in extras casting.”

Locke allegedly replied, “OK,” before quitting the show an hour later.

Zisk also denied that Stallone requested “pretty young girls” for the show, noting that Stallone’s wife Jennifer Flavin was present during filming.

Decider reached out to a representative for Zisk for further comment.

Tulsa Season 2 is expected to premiere this coming fall.