On Sept. 12, 2023, the website SpaceXMania.com published an article that said "Rocky" and "Creed" actor Sylvester Stallone had rejected a $500 million "woke" movie offer from Disney.
The story of the article read, "'Don't Want Wokeness In My Life': Sylvester Stallone Rejects Disney's $500 Million 'Woke' Movie Offer."
The article began as follows:
In a move that has left Hollywood's elite clutching their organic, sustainably-sourced pearls, Sylvester Stallone, the man who taught us all to "fight for what's right" in a boxing ring, has turned down a staggering $500 million movie offer from Disney. His reason? He's had enough of the "woke crap." While some might see this as a missed opportunity, others are left wondering if Stallone is just trying to dodge another sequel – this time, one that doesn't involve boxing gloves but rather a script dripping in political correctness.
...
Sylvester, however, seems to have missed the memo about Hollywood's new direction. When asked about his decision, he remarked, "I've fought against Russians, trained fighters, and even climbed mountains in my movies. But this? This is where I draw the line." Ah, the good old days when the only drama Stallone had to deal with was a rival boxer and not a script filled with modern-day social commentary.
However, this story was not true. SpaceXMania.com describes its output as being satirical in nature, both on its "About Us" page and as a label above articles.
This same rumor about Stallone purportedly rejecting a "woke" movie offer from Disney because of its "wokeness" also appeared on esspots.com, lifestory25.com and usacommunity.live. The latter two websites did not contain any labels that indicated the content was satirical in nature.
This rumor was somewhat similar to another one previously posted in March 2023 by The Dunning-Kruger Times website. That rumor didn't mention Disney, but did feature the headline, "Sylvester Stallone Makes It Clear: 'No Woke Crap' On His New Movie Set." The Times' website is part of the America's Last Line of Defense network, which also features content that is said to be satirical in nature.
For background, here is why we sometimes write about satire/humor.