Chuck Wepner, the fighter who helped inspired Sylvester Stallone‘s “Rocky” movies, plans to sue Sylvester Stallone because Sly has used his name over the years to promote the Rocky series. Sly has said that the Wepner – Ali title fight provided a spark of inspiration for the creation of Rocky.
Wepner is quoted as saying, “I have never gotten one penny from these movies which have made over $1 billion”… “The last straw was when he [Sly] was in Weehawken filming ‘Copland’ a few years ago and told me that he might have a part for me. I went up there, but nothing ever came of it.”
So 27 years after the release of “Rocky,” Chuck has decided to sue. And the last straw happened 7 years ago when Sly said he MIGHT have a part for Chuck.
I wonder, over the years, how many times Chuck has told people he was the inspiration for Rocky. I wonder how many autographs and speaking engagements were prompted because people knew of Chuck‘s connection to Rocky.
This is a pretty sad story.
– Craig Zablo