We, the undersigned, call on Mr. Irwin Winkler and his children to allow Mr. Sylvester Stallone to assert full creative control over the fictional character of his own creation, that of ROCKY BALBOA.

It has been reported that Mr. Stallone does not own even one percent of the character he created. Instead, all of the rights to this character belong to one of the executive producers of the ROCKY and CREED movies, Mr. Irwin Winkler. Additionally, Mr. Winkler legally holds "blocking rights" which prohibit Mr. Stallone from being able to carry out the many future visions he has for his own character.

Recently, Mr. Stallone has expressed the desire to make multiple entries in the ROCKY universe, including a 7th ROCKY film in which Rocky actively works to improve his struggling and impoverished Philadelphia neighborhood of Kensington. Mr. Stallone has also drafted a ROCKY prequel TV series in which the teenage years of Rocky, Adrian, Paulie, Tony Gazzo and others would be explored in the setting of 1960s Philadelphia.

We, the undersigned, sincerely would like to see these ideas come to fruition. But Mr. Winkler is not allowing Mr. Stallone to carry out any parts of his vision due to the blocking rights that Mr. Winkler currently holds on the ROCKY character.

This is an egregious injustice. Mr. Stallone created ROCKY entirely on his own, and he has been the only actor to ever portray this character. Mr. Stallone IS Rocky, and he should not have to ask anyone for permission to do whatever he wants with his own creation.

Rocky is so much more than a movie character. He is a cultural icon that has persisted for 45 years in countries all over the world, a symbol of what it means to go the distance, to push one's self to fight against all obstacles and to keep moving forward.

To this day, thousands of people from all over the world visit The ROCKY Steps in Philadelphia to retrace Rocky's steps and celebrate their own victories in life. This is a true testament to how much this character means to our world, even 45 years after Rocky's debut.

Yet, "it ain't over 'til it's over." There are more stories to be told, and younger generations to inspire. But we are being robbed of all these great possibilities because Mr. Winkler will not allow Mr. Stallone to carry out his vision involving the character of his own creation.

Therefore, we, the undersigned, respectfully request that the blocking rights that currently bind the character of ROCKY BALBOA to Mr. Winkler be removed so that Mr. Stallone may do whatever he wishes with his own character. 

In the meantime, we will repeatedly call attention to the injustice of this situation by promoting awareness of it on a daily basis by using the hashtags #freerockybalboa and #onemoreroundforsly on social media platforms. We will fight One More Round For Sly and do everything we can to Free Rocky Balboa so that Sly can continue this iconic character's story. Thank you, and we greatly appreciate your consideration of our request.