Sylvester Stallone has had several notorious run-ins and near-physical altercations in Hollywood. Having struggled to make a name for himself as an outsider, the actor has admitted to being fiercely protective of the position he worked so hard to earn. He was also known for reacting strongly to anyone he feels is disrespecting him or his work. Unfortunately, Richard Gere got on his wrong side. And their feud had an unusually petty trigger: chicken grease.

A spill of chicken grease nearly prompted Sylvester Stallone to physically confront Richard Gere on the sets of their 1974 film, leaving the actors at odds for years.

Sylvester Stallone traced his falling-out with Richard Gere back to their auditions for The Lords of Flatbush. In his memoir The Steps, as reported by Entertainment Weekly, Stallone recalled how the two were asked to improvise scenes together. He claimed Gere grabbed his T-shirt and dug his fingernails into his skin during the exercise. Stallone was not pleased when Gere repeated the move after being asked to stop once. The infamous chicken grease incident reportedly happened during a lunch break from the very auditions. 

Stallone recalled sitting in a parked car with Gere, who was eating greasy chicken out of a foil wrapper. Stallone had already warned him to keep the grease away from his clothes. But Gere told him not to worry about it. Moments later, chicken grease spilled onto Stallone's pants. Furious, the Rocky star elbowed Gere in the chest, got out of the car, walked around to his door, and dragged him out of the back seat.

"I elbowed him across the chest," Stallone confessed. 

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The confrontation marked the beginning of a bitter rivalry that would last for decades.

Following their altercation, it became very clear that keeping both actors on The Lords of Flatbush was no longer an option. Sylvester Stallone insisted that either he or Richard Gere had to go. The director sided with Stallone and brought in in Perry King to play Chico Tyrell instead. While the incident cost Gere the role, it did little to affect his long-term prospects. He went on to find fame with American Gigolo and become a major Hollywood star.

Unlike his famously competitive relationship with Arnold Schwarzenegger, which eventually blossomed into a warm friendship and even led to them sharing the screen, Stallone's feud with Gere never reached a similar resolution. The actors have never publicly made amends, and Gere has largely avoided discussing their fallout or addressing Stallone in interviews.

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