Sylvester Stallone has hit back at critics accusing him of nepotism after casting his 24-year-old daughter, Scarlet Stallone, in his hit crime drama Tulsa King.

The 80-year-old Hollywood star defended giving Scarlet a role in the Paramount+ series, openly acknowledging that his decision amounted to nepotism while arguing that parents naturally want to give their children every possible advantage.

“Of course it’s nepotism, you idiot,” Stallone said in a recent interview with USA Today.

The Rocky legend went on to challenge the criticism directed at famous parents who help their children break into competitive industries.

“First they go, ‘Nepotism is terrible.’ I said, ‘Oh please, you’re not a good parent if you haven’t performed a little nepotism,’” he explained.

“Then obviously you don’t care about your kids, because they come first.”

Stallone, who has enjoyed a decades-long career in Hollywood, added that parents naturally want to see their children succeed.

“That’s why we’re parents. We want the best for our children. So obviously, we let them have every advantage,” he said.

Scarlet, 24, plays Spencer in Tulsa King, which stars her father as a New York mobster attempting to establish a criminal operation in Oklahoma.

The casting decision has brought renewed attention to the debate over nepotism in the entertainment industry, where the children of established stars can sometimes gain access to opportunities that are harder for newcomers to secure.

However, Stallone argued that opening a door for a child does not guarantee that they will be able to succeed once they get the opportunity.

The actor acknowledged that critics might believe Scarlet had an easier route into the business because of her famous surname.

“People will say, ‘She got that job, it’s too easy.’ You’re right. Perhaps it could be,” he said.

“But to maintain that, to be in front of millions of people, you either got it or you don’t.”

Stallone also questioned how much influence parents can ultimately have over their children’s careers.

“Can they maintain that level of excellence?” he asked, suggesting that a parent’s ability to help only goes so far.

“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,” he added.

The actor shares Scarlet with his wife, Jennifer Flavin, whom he married in 1997. The couple also have two other daughters, Sophia, 30, and Sistine, 28.

Stallone is also father to sons Seargeoh, 47, and Sage, whom he shared with his first wife, Sasha Czack. Sage died in 2012 at the age of 36.

His latest comments come amid ongoing discussions about the influence of celebrity connections in Hollywood, with supporters of famous families arguing that relatives should not be prevented from pursuing careers in the same industry as their parents.

Critics, meanwhile, contend that such connections can give celebrity offspring an advantage over aspiring performers without established industry contacts.

Stallone’s remarks suggest he has little interest in apologizing for helping his daughter get an opportunity, instead placing the emphasis on whether she can prove herself once she is on screen.

The controversy surrounding Tulsa King has also previously included allegations about the treatment of background actors during production.

In April 2024, television writer Julie Benson shared a now-deleted post on X claiming that a friend working as a background actor on the series had reported an incident involving Stallone and director Craig Zisk.

According to Benson’s post, a casting agent had quit after becoming upset over alleged remarks about background performers.

The claims included allegations that extras had been described as “ugly and fat.”

Stallone’s representatives did not respond to the Daily Mail’s request for comment at the time, according to the publication.

Zisk, meanwhile, denied the allegations in comments to TMZ and offered a different account of the disagreement surrounding the casting of extras.

The director and executive producer said the scene in question was set in a “hip, young bar” and that the production had expected performers in the 25-to-35 age range.

He claimed that the extras selected were considerably older than intended.

Zisk said the performers were ultimately used in the scene and described them as polite and professional.

He also alleged that he had asked casting director Rose Locke to submit headshots of the extras to ensure they matched the scene’s requirements. According to Zisk, Locke disagreed with his approach and subsequently left the production.

The allegations were not established as fact, and the accounts of the dispute differed.

Despite the controversy, Tulsa King remains centered on Stallone’s character, Dwight “The General” Manfredi, a mobster who is released from prison after serving a 25-year sentence.

Rather than being welcomed back into his former criminal organization in New York, Manfredi is sent to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he begins building a new criminal empire with an unlikely group of associates.

For Stallone, the debate over his daughter’s casting ultimately comes down to the distinction between receiving an opportunity and proving capable of keeping it.

While he has openly accepted the nepotism label, the actor maintains that Scarlet’s ability to sustain her performance will determine whether she deserves to remain in front of millions of viewers.