Arnold Schwarzenegger Sends Supportive Message To Sylvester Stallone After Oscar Loss

Throughout this year’s Oscar season, Creed‘s Sylvester Stallone has always stopped just short of being the odds-on favorite to win Best Supporting Actor.

So earlier tonight, when the award went to Mark Rylance for Bridge of Spies, it was a disappointment but not a surprise to many fans who hoped Stallone would take home the trophy for his portrayal of aging boxer Rocky Balboa — a role for which he was nominated in 1977’s Rocky.

Another action movie star, possibly the only one as iconic as Stallone himself, shared his frustration and support for “Sly” on social media shortly after the loss. Actor and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has long been a friend and fan to Stallone, in spite of careers that have positioned the pair, essentially, as professional rivals. And tonight, Schwarzenegger stepped up to be one of the first to tell Stallone not to be discouraged by the loss at the 88th Annual Academy Awards:

In 1977, Stallone was actually nominated in both the categories of Best Actor and Best Screenplay for each the Oscars, the Golden Globes and the BAFTA Awards. He didn’t win any, although at the 2015 Golden Globe Awards, he did take home the Best Supporting Actor trophy for Creed.

Creed has found itself at the center of the #OscarsSoWhite controversy, since it was generally expected to be considered for Best Picture or Best Director, neither of which happened. Michael B. Jordan also failed to secure a nomination for his performance as the film’s lead. That the only major award nominations celebrated the only white lead in a primarily Black film wasn’t lost on audiences — or on Stallone, who reportedly offered to sit out the Oscars in protest, but director Ryan Coogler told him not to.

Stallone and Schwarzenegger appeared onscreen together in the Stallone-written The Expendables franchise, which starred a number of aging action stars.