Sylvester Stallone has openly acknowledged that casting his daughter Scarlet Rose Stallone in an expanded role on the Paramount+ series Tulsa King amounts to nepotism, while arguing that any parent who refuses to help their children is failing them.
In comments to USA Today that circulated widely this week, the 80-year-old actor and executive producer of the Taylor Sheridan crime drama said: “First they go, ‘Nepotism is terrible.’ I said, ‘Oh please, you’re not a good parent if you haven’t performed a little nepotism. Then obviously you don’t care about your kids, because they come first. Of course it’s nepotism, you idiot. That’s why we’re parents. We want the best for our children. So obviously we let them have every advantage.”
Stallone added that opening a door is only the beginning. “Can they maintain that level of excellence? That’s out of our hands. But if you can open the door, we’ll see if they have the ability to go through it. People will say, ‘She got that job, it’s too easy.’ You’re right. Perhaps it could be. But to maintain that, to be in front of millions of people, you either got it or you don’t.”
Scarlet Rose Stallone, 24, first appeared in Tulsa King during its debut season in 2022. She plays Spencer, a local barista who encounters Stallone’s character, Dwight “The General” Manfredi, a New York mobster building a criminal operation in Tulsa, Oklahoma, after 25 years in prison. Dwight hires Spencer to care for a horse named Pilot at a ranch, turning her into a recurring presence as a stable hand. Over subsequent seasons her involvement has grown, including work as a bartender, and the role expands further in Season 4, which premiered on 16 October. Paramount+ has already renewed the series for a fifth season and promoted Scarlet to series regular.
Born on 25 May 2002 in Los Angeles, Scarlet is the youngest of three daughters Stallone shares with his wife, Jennifer Flavin. Her older sisters are Sophia Rose Stallone and Sistine Rose Stallone. She also has two half-brothers from her father’s earlier marriage: Seargeoh Stallone and the late Sage Stallone.
Beyond the family connection on Tulsa King, Scarlet has taken on roles without her father’s direct involvement. She made her film debut as a child in the 2014 ensemble drama Reach Me, which starred Stallone but featured her in a small part as a sassy young girl. In 2025 she appeared as Bella in the western Gunslingers, alongside Nicolas Cage, Stephen Dorff and Heather Graham, and as Lizzie in the action thriller Hunting Season opposite Mel Gibson. She has also appeared as herself in the Paramount+ reality series The Family Stallone.
Stallone has long used his platform to support family projects, yet he frames the decision on Tulsa King as standard parental behaviour rather than an industry exception. Scarlet has described working with her father as transformative, saying the experience allowed them to grow as colleagues and friends after years of limited time together because of his schedule.
Season 4 of Tulsa King continues to air new episodes on Paramount+, with production on the New York-set fifth season already under way.
