Mike Tyson Speaks Out Against Hulu’s ‘Mike’ Series: “Heads Will Roll”
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Mike Tyson has taken to social media to speak out against the upcoming Hulu series dramatizing his life. In social media posts shared on Friday and Saturday (August 5-6), he took aim at Mike starring Trevante Rhodes, which he claims Hulu did not have permission to create.
“Hulu tried to desperately pay my brother @danawhite millions without offering me a dollar to promote their slave master take over story about my life,” Tyson wrote, sharing a photo of himself and the UFC fighter. “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.”
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The following day, additional tweets by Tyson revealed more reasons why he stands firmly against the Hulu series. Tyson compared the entire process to chattel slavery. “Hulu stole my story. They’re Goliath and I’m David. Heads will roll for this,” he declared in one tweet. “@hulu I’m not a n****r you can sell on the auction block #slaveryisover#fu*khulu” he shared in another.
“Hulu’s model of stealing life rights of celebrities is egregiously greedy #headswillroll,” the former heavyweight champ concluded.
Tyson’s social media spill ended with him sharing a post from World Boxing Council President Mauricio Sulaiman, who claimed Hulu misled the organization on Tyson’s involvement in the project. The result was the WBC providing official championship belts to the streaming platform for production.
“Someone should get fired from Hulu,” wrote Tyson when sharing Sulaiman’s tweet. “Producers were lying to my friends saying I supported the unauthorized series about my life.”
According to Variety Tyson has critiqued the limited series since it was announced in February 2021. A Mike Tyson-approved film starring Jamie Foxx has been in the works but reportedly has not found a network, delaying production.
“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,” Tyson said in a statement at the time.
Hulu shared the teaser for Mike this past June, and it is set to be released on August 25th. The eight-episode series was created by Steven Rogers, who also serves as the screenwriter. The series is headed by showrunner Karin Gist, and included the creative team behind Hulu‘s award-winning I, Tonya.
Mike is described by Hulu as “an unauthorized and no-holds-barred look at the life of Mike Tyson – and it is one wild ride.” At the Television Critics Association Press Tour on Thursday (August 4), Gist shared her intentions for the series.
“We just wanted to tell an unbiased story and have the audience decide what they think or feel,” Gist said. “Challenging what people think they know about Mike and hoping that they come away from the series with something else to think about. Whether you like him or hate him, 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 were crafting stories.”
Additionally, Harvey Keitel, Laura Harrier, Li Eubanks, and Russell Hornsby also star in the series. Watch the trailer for Mike below.
