Mike Tyson Accuses Hulu Of Stealing His Story And Not Paying Him For Its New Biopic ‘Mike’
Mike Tyson took another swing at Hulu, accusing the streaming giant of stealing his life story without paying him for its limited series about his life and career.
“Don’t let Hulu fool you. I don’t support their story about my life,” Tyson, 56, said in an Instagram post on Saturday (Aug. 6). “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-word] they can sell on the auction block.”
Tyson also tweeted: “Hulu stole my story. They’re Goliath and I’m David. Heads will roll for this.”
Hulu is scheduled to release Mike on Aug. 25. The unauthorized biopic, staring Trevante Rhodes as the former champion, traces Tyson’s rise to boxing’s top ranks and all the fame it brought him, as well as the boxer’s fall after his 1992 rape conviction and his return to the ring.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Tyson has not been involved in the film. He publicly criticized the project from the start, calling it a “tone-deaf cultural misappropriation of my life story.”
Instead, Tyson has participated in an authorized biopic about his life from star and executive producer Jamie Foxx and director Antoine Fuqua.
Mike’s executive producer Steven Rogers and showrunner Karin Gist said they didn’t want to portray Tyson as either a hero or a villain. “Redemption was never the goal of this story,” The Hollywood Reporter quoted Gist. “We want to challenge what people think they know about him” and how larger societal forces may have molded him.
During the show’s virtual Television Critics Association panel on Thursday (Aug. 4), Rogers defended Hulu’s eight-part series from Tyson’s ongoing criticism.
"We actually couldn't talk to him because his life rights were already taken, so that was never on the table. I would hope that if he watches it that he would change his opinion," Entertainment Tonight quoted Rogers, adding that he doesn’t “like to be reliant on just one source” in his writing and storytelling.
Tyson’s representative told Entertainment Tonight that Rogers’ claim about the boxer’s life rights is not true.
"Is a flat out lie. My life rights option expired years ago. Hulu nor any of their supercilious team ever tried to engage in any negotiations with this Black man,” the statement said.
"They say this story is an exploration of a Black man. It's more like an exploitation of a Black man. Hulu thinks their tracks are covered by hiring Black sacrificial lambs to play the part as front men for their backdoor robbery is appalling. I will always remember this blatant disregard of my dignity," the statement continued.
