Mike Tyson about his Life Story for Upcoming Series: “Heads Will Roll for This”
The boxing legend had previously criticized ‘Mike,’ premiering August 25, as “tone-deaf cultural misappropriation.”
The former boxing heavyweight champion took to social media to criticize the streamer over Mike, the show that stars Trevante Rhodes in the title role and launches August 25.
Tyson claimed that Hulu “stole my life story,” emphasizing that he was not involved or financially compensated for the biographical project.
He captioned an Instagram Saturday with the message, “Hulu is the streaming version of the slave master.” The post itself added, “Don’t let Hulu fool you. I don’t support their story about my life. It’s not 1822. It’s 2022. They stole my life story and didn’t pay me. To Hulu executives I’m just a n— they can sell on the auction block.”
The day prior, Tyson claimed on social media that Hulu offered UFC president Dana White “millions” to promote the show. “He turned it down because he honors friendship and treating people with dignity,” Tyson wrote.
Tyson voiced similar concerns when the show was first announced in February 2021, with the star referring to it in a since-deleted Instagram post. Tyson is participating in different project about his life that is in the works from star and executive producer Jamie Foxx and director Antoine Fuqua.
Mike is certainly not the first biographical project to spur criticism from subjects who weren’t involved, as it’s not uncommon for dramatizations of public figures to be made without their input.
Recently, HBO’s Los Angeles Lakers drama series Winning Time, about the NBA franchise’s storied Showtime era in the 1980s, was criticized by a number of the figures portrayed on the show.
During Mike’s presentation earlier this month at the Television Critics Association press tour, executive producer Steven Rogers (I, Tonya) and showrunner Karin Gist both had no intent of portraying Tyson as either a hero or villain.
“We just wanted to tell an unbiased story and have the audience decide what they think or feel,” Gist said. “Challenging what people think they know about Mike and hoping that they come away from the series with something else to think about.”
