By: Sean Crose
“Don’t let Hulu fool you,” Mike Tyson declared in a weekend Instagram post. “I don’t support their story about my life. Not 1822 but 2022. They stole my life story and didn’t pay me. To Hulu executives, I’m just something they can sell on the auction block. ” Tyson is referring to an eight-episode Hulu series of which he is the main subject. Called “Mike,” the series will run on the streaming service starting August 28.
“Hulu was desperately trying to pay my brother @danawhite millions of people,” Tyson said in a separate, earlier post, “without giving me a single dollar to push their slave owners to take over the story of my life. He rejects it because he respects friendship and treats everyone with dignity. I will never forget what he did for me just as I will never forget what Hulu stole from me.”
Tyson has long been an opponent of the biopic. As he said The Hollywood Reporter shortly after the series was announced: “Hulu’s announcement of an unauthorized miniseries in my lifetime is, though unfortunate, not surprising.” The former undisputed heavyweight champion went on to accuse Hulu of using his story as a cynical business opportunity. “This announcement,” he added, “on the background of social disparities in our country is a prime example of how Hulu’s corporate greed has led to the appropriation of the tone-deaf culture.” This is like in my life story.”
Tyson also added that an approved motion picture version of his life has been made. “My authorized story,” he said, “is in development and will be published in the coming days.” Sure enough, the team of Jamie Foxx, Antoine Fuqua, and Martin Scorcese is said to be working on a Tyson project.
However, “Mike” host Karen Grist presented the Hulu series as a nuance of a popular character with a trendy story. “We just wanted to tell an unbiased story,” she said while promoting the series, “and let the audience decide what they think or feel. Challenge what people think they know about Mike and hope that they exit the series with something else to think about. ”
Tyson is, of course, not only a legend in the fighting game, but also one of the most prominent figures in American sports history. An extremely talented, skilled boxer in his infancy, Tyson became known for his often terrifying behavior outside of the ring. With that said, a much more tame (and even regretful) Tyson has emerged over the past decade or so, one who has been largely accepted by the general culture.
