SYLVESTER STALLONE MAKING BIOPIC ABOUT JACK JOHNSON

Days after the presidential pardon of Jack Johnson, Sylvester Stallone has announced plans for a biopic on the first African-American heavyweight champion. On Thursday, Stallone stood next to President Donald Trump in the Oval Office as he signed a rare posthumous pardon to Johnson, who served 10 months in prison in what Trump called “a racially-motivated injustice.” In October of 1912, Johnson was accused of violating the Mann Act (an anti-prostitution law) for “kidnapping” his girlfriend and would-be wife, Lucille Cameron, and travelling across state lines. After being convicted and sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison, Johnson skipped out on bail and fled to Montreal with Lucille. He continued his boxing career until finally surrendering to U.S. authorities in 1920 to serve his sentence.