Mike Tyson vs. Disney’s Hulu: ‘Heads will roll’
The former boxer charges against the American audiovisual platform for not paying the copyright in the series about his life that will premiere on August 25
Former boxer Mike Tyson has stepped into the ring again, but this time he is fighting a very different opponent: Disney’s streaming platform Hulu. The youngest champion in the history of boxing heavyweights has lashed out Hulu for not paying him for the TV show Mike, a scripted limited series that will be released on August 25. “Hulu stole my story. They’re Goliath and I’m David. Heads will roll for this,” wrote Tyson in a message on his Twitter account, which has 5.9 million followers.
“Hulu is the streaming version of the slave master. They stole my story and didn’t pay me,” he added on Instagram. Tyson, who new leads a medical marijuana company in California, said he was also offended by the fact Hulu made no effort to consult him about how to portray key moments in his life, such as his famous bite of Evander Holyfield in a fight in Las Vegas in 1997. “I don’t support their story about my life. It’s not 1822. It’s 2022. They stole my story and didn’t pay me. To Hulu executives I’m just a n****r they can sell on the auction block.”
Tyson added that Hulu also offered money to his friend Dana White, the current president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), in exchange for information about the boxer’s life. “He turned it down because he honors friendship and treating people with dignity. I’ll never forget what he did for me, just like I’ll never forget what Hulu stole from me.”
The dispute with Hulu comes after Tyson revealed on the podcast The Pivot that he had spent around $500 million dollars on women. “I spent my last million dollars on my rehab because there was nothing left of the $500 million I made as a boxer,” he said. “It was all about women. It took 15 to 16 years, it seemed like a lot of money, but it’s all gone.”
In the same interview, he said he would not leave his six children any inheritance money. “What I leave them is the lesson to work hard and pray a lot. Money would not help them, it would harm them because it would not teach them to stand up for themselves, to overcome adversity and to work hard,” he said.
Madonna: ‘No one’s going to tell my story, but me’
US singer Madonna has written a screenplay about her life with Diablo Cody (the Oscar-winning screenwriter for Juno) and Erin Cressida Wilson (the writer of Secretary). The pop star may even direct the movie to ensure that it is not directed by “misogynistic men,” she told Variety magazine. “No one’s going to tell my story, but me.”