How Sylvester Stallone and Richard Gere’s Bitter Feud Began

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There has never been much warmth between Sylvester Stallone and Richard Gere. Their long-running Hollywood feud reportedly traces back to the early days of their careers, when Gere was hired to appear in “The Lords of Flatbush.” Although he never made it into the finished movie, Gere was initially part of the cast before a series of clashes on set led to his dismissal, according to Stallone’s 2006 interview with Ain’t It Cool News.

Stallone said he was unimpressed from the start, describing Gere as someone who paraded around in an oversized motorcycle jacket “like he was the baddest knight at the round table.” Their tension reportedly boiled over during an improvised scene. In his 2026 memoir, “The Steps” (via Independent), Stallone recalled that Gere grabbed his shirt so forcefully that his fingernails cut into Stallone’s skin. After asking him to stop, Stallone said he made his own provocative suggestion: whether he could “knock his teeth out” as part of the performance. The request, unsurprisingly, was rejected. Stallone later characterized Gere as being so immersed in his role that he was “impossible to deal with.”

The disagreement reportedly reached another flashpoint during a later lunch break. While the two actors were sitting in a car, Gere chose to eat a large piece of greasy chicken topped with mustard and served on aluminum foil. Stallone warned him that the food could spill, but Gere apparently ignored the caution. When the chicken landed on Stallone, he said he responded by elbowing Gere in the side of the head and pushing him out of the vehicle. Gere was subsequently fired from the production, and Stallone told Ain’t It Cool News that his former co-star “seriously dislikes” him.

Richard Gere has not, at least publicly, offered his version of the alleged conflict with Stallone. Elton John, however, shared his own memorable account of the actors’ rivalry in his autobiography “Me.” The story centered on Princess Diana and an uncomfortable encounter at an exclusive dinner party.

John wrote that he hosted the star-studded gathering while working on “The Lion King.” The event was held to celebrate Jeffrey Katzenberg, then Disney’s chief, and both Stallone and Gere were in Britain and invited to attend. Diana, a close friend of John’s, was also among the guests. According to the singer, she quickly formed a connection with Gere.

That apparent friendship did not sit well with Stallone. John recalled that Stallone repeatedly glared at the pair, giving the impression that he may have arrived hoping to spend the evening with Diana. When Gere and Diana later disappeared from the room, John’s husband, David Furnish, went to find them. Instead, he reportedly discovered the former co-stars “squaring up to each other,” seemingly ready to settle their dispute over Diana with a fistfight.

The two men eventually maintained their composure for the rest of the gathering, but John said Stallone still departed angrily. The actor allegedly told his hosts that he would not have attended had he known Gere would be there.

There may have been more to the story than a single awkward dinner. In 1995, Independent reported that both actors had invited Diana to dinner, adding another layer to the rumored romantic competition. After decades of speculation and mutual resentment, the Stallone-Gere feud does not appear likely to receive a Hollywood-style resolution anytime soon.