Mike Tyson took to social media to attack Hulu over Mike, the series about his life. The former boxer is not happy that the streaming service created a biopic without his permission or compensation for telling his story.
“Don’t let Hulu fool you. I don’t support their story about my life. It’s not 1822. It’s 2022,” Tyson’s statement on Instagram read. “They stole the story of my life and didn’t pay me. To Hulu executives, I’m just an an****r they can auction off.”
In the social media post, Tyson wrote: “Hulu is the streaming version of slave master. They stole my story and didn’t pay me.”
Tyson’s latest post came on the heels of another post he made on the same social media platform where he praised UFC president Dana White for allegedly refusing to promote the Hulu series.
“Hulu desperately tried to pay my brother @danawhite millions without offering me a dollar to promote the story of my life being taken over by their slave master,” Tyson claimed in a statement posted on Instagram. “He turned it down because he values friendship and treating people with dignity. I’ll never forget what you did for me, just like I’ll never forget what Hulu stole from me.
In a panel at Hulu’s Television Critics Tour on Thursday, the show’s showrunner, Karen Gist, addressed the project’s unresolved nature. “We just wanted to tell an unbiased story and let the audience decide what they think or feel,” Gist said. “I’m challenging what people think they know about Mike and hopefully they’ll come away from the show with something else to think about. Love it or hate it, does the story make you question how complicit society has been? That was the intention, that was the North Star for the writers’ room as we created stories.”
It wasn’t the first time the heavyweight champion criticized Hulu for the biopic. Back in February 2021, Tyson also took to Instagram to speak out against the streamer after announcing the project.
“Hulu’s announcement to make an unauthorized mini-series of Tyson’s story without compensation, while unfortunate, is not surprising,” the boxer said in a now-deleted post. “This announcement against the backdrop of social disparity in our country is a prime example of how Hulu’s corporate greed led to this tone-deaf cultural appropriation of Tyson’s life story. Making this announcement during Black History Month only confirms Hulu’s concern for dollars when it comes to respecting the rights of black stories. Hollywood needs to be more sensitive to black experiences, especially after everything that happened in 2020.
“Mike” premieres August 25 on Hulu. The series was created by Steven Rogers (I, Tonya) and stars Trevante Rhodes. Other cast members include Russell Hornsby, Harvey Keitel, Laura Harrier and Lee Eubanks.
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