Sylvester Stallone is an iconic movie star, and one of the many people who sculpted the new age of action films in the 1980s. He’s been in many movies like the Rocky series, Rambo series, Cobra, Over the Top, Expendables 1 & 2, Bullet to the Head, and recently Escape Plan. At age 67, he still has a perfect muscular body, and has maintained it his entire career. Sylvester Stallone is married and has 5 kids. His son Sage died in 2012. 

Last Friday Stallone and his friends were leaving a restaurant and were welcomed by hoards of paparazzi. Stallone politely asked for them to leave him be, but they continued to pester him until he became frustrated. He yelled something at one of the photographers that was too close to him and his friends. This person claimed Stallone used a racial slur against him. Stallone has denied using any racial slurs, and so has his spokesperson, his friends at the event, and according to dailymail.uk, Usher listened to the audio and had this to say, “I listen to sound professionally day in and day out, and I know what I heard. In my professional opinion, the audio confirms that Mr. Stallone did not use a racial epithet.”

The paparazzi are known for persistently invading the privacy of celebrities and even defaming with rumors and lies. Given the statements by Usher, Stallone’s friends, spokesperson, and Sly himself, it is probable that the paparazzi misunderstood the star and used the perceived injustice to draw the attention of the media.

The situation with Stallone evoke mixed reactions among the students at Bob Jones, and raises questions about the moral code of “journalism.” Morgan Simrell, a Junior, had this to say: “I think paparazzi are just doing their jobs and making a living to support themselves and their families, but they can go overboard. Once your rights take away from someone else’s, you’re going too far.” Corwin Fick, a senior at BJHS thinks, “They try to catch the worst in people.” Anias Riley, a junior, thinks, “It would matter because there’s not just white paparazzi or black paparazzi and why would he have the need to say that word unless he had a hatred for black people?” BJHS Senior, Steven Nicke says, “Depends on if he actually said them or not. Really, the paparazzi shouldn’t be able to terrorize celebrities as they do and should just be regular journalists instead of slinging mud for profit.” he also added, “If he used them, it might have been out of anger and therefore meaningless.”

Is this an example of lingering racial resentment, or aggressive and destructive profiteering and manipulation of the facts, under the guise of racial justice? Stallone remains personally unscathed by the allegations, but the implications of either racism, or yellow journalism resonate in our social conscience.