Tulsa King Director and Executive Producer Craig Zisk rebuked the allegations that Sylvester Stallone created a toxic environment on the set of the show and insulted background actors.
Sylvester Stallone attend the German premiere of the film “The Expendables 3” at Residenz cinema on August 6, 2014 in Cologne, Germany. Photo Credit: Michael Schilling, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
The accusations were brought to light by He-Man: Masters of the Universe and Star Trek: Prodigy writer Julie Benson who shared an email from Rose Locke announcing the background casting agency would no longer be working on the show due to a “clear toxic environment.”
An email that Benson shared to X reads, “I have been informed of certain things that happened on Thursday, the first day of the casino. I came the 2nd day (Friday) to see what was happening. At the end of the day I resigned because it was a clear toxic environment that I was not comfortable putting myself or background artists in. I will finish out this coming week and someone else will take over. I want to apologize for anything you experienced.”
A screenshot shared to X by Julie Benson
Along with this email, Benson also shared a screenshot from a Facebook group from an unnamed moderator that stated, “While working on TK this week Sylvester Stallone was observed calling the director over and saying ‘What the F*** is up with these F****** ugly background.’ He and the director proceeded to call certain people terrible names and laughed at them. ‘Tub of lard’, ‘fat guy with cane’ and was making fun of their weight and handicaps.”
The post continued, “Sly said, ‘Bring in pretty young girls to be around me.’ Rose Locke has resigned and will finsh out this final week to give them the opportunity to find someone else. BGs need to stand together and NOT submit to TK moving forward to show this production we don’t support this kind of disrespect in GA.”
A screenshot shared to X by Julie Benson
CL Casting or Catrett-Locke Casting, which is owned by Jennifer Rose Locke and Jamie Lynn Catrett announced on its Facebook page it had indeed exited the Tulsa King show.
The post reads, “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.”
CL Casting on Facebook
Zisk responded to these accusations with TMZ reporting the director informed the outlet, “Craig Zisk, the Director and Executive Producer of the Paramount+ series, tells TMZ … no such insults were hurled. He says Locke, who was not on set during the day of the alleged encounter, improperly cast the extras.”
The outlet added, “Zisk says the extras were supposed to be in a hip, young bar, and the plan was to get actors in the 25 to 35-year-old range, but the actors who were cast were considerably older.”
Zisk did end up using the background actors and informed the outlet, “They were “polite and did their jobs.”
Sylvester Stallone as Dwight ‘The General’ Manfredi in Tulsa King (2022), Paramount Plus
As for the encounter with Locke when she arrived on set the next day, Zisk says he informed Locke she would need to submit head shots of extras moving forward so that he and the producers could ensure the actors would match their creative vision.
Locke reportedly refused telling Zisk, “I don’t work that way.” Zisk informed her, “That’s the way I work and everyone I know works that way in extras casting.” Locke then quit an hour later.
Zisk also disputed the claim that Sly wanted “pretty girls” around him and noted Stallone’s wife Jennifer Flavin was on set during filming.
Sylvester Stallone as Dwight ‘The General’ Manfredi in Tulsa King (2022), Paramount Plus
What do you make of these accusations? What do you make of Zisk’s refutation of them?
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