Mike Tyson, unquestionably, has made some horrible decisions in his life. (Besides tattooing his face.)
But the 56-year-old ex-heavyweight has also had plenty of people exploit him, including the makers of the beloved Nintendo game Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! Released in 1987 with Tyson as the final opponent, Punch-Out!! was an instant classic. To put Tyson in the game for three years, which had a new final opponent named Mr. Dream by 1990, Nintendo reportedly paid Iron Mike $50,000 with no royalties. Per the Atlanta Black Star, Nintendo made $1.7 billion.
Tyson, who believes his days are numbered despite being less than 60 years old, is trying to prevent a similar sort of situation from happening with an upcoming Hulu series about his life that is apparently being released without his input or consent.
Set to debut on August 25, Mike stars Trevante Rhodes as Tyson and tracks the legendary fighter’s life from adolescence to retirement. Created by I, Tonya screenwriter Steven Rogers, the series is slated for eight episodes.
When it hits the airwaves — er, streamwaves? — don’t expect Tyson to be watching as he has taken to social media to slam Hulu, which he likened to a “slave master,” and the series about his life. He also praised UFC head Dana White for not taking part in the production of the program. “Hulu tried to desperately pay my brother Dana White millions without offering me a dollar to promote their slave master take over story about my life,” he said. “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.”
For Tyson, the fight didn’t end there.
Prior to this outburst, Tyson lashed out at Hulu when the series was greenlit by the streamer in February 2021. “This announcement on the heels of social disparities in our country is a prime example of how Hulu’s corporate greed led to this tone-deaf cultural misappropriation of the Tyson life story,” the former champ said in a statement at the time.
Tyson, who has appeared as himself in films like The Hangover, Black & White, Rocky Balboa and Scary Movie V and in TV shows like Roseanne, How I Met Your Mother and Franklin & Bash, has signed off on a Martin Scorsese-produced series about his life. However, that production has been delayed by numerous factors including the COVID-19 pandemic and does not yet have a debut date or a streaming partner.
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