Someone in Mike Tyson’s inner circle should consider telling him to stop publicly criticizing the upcoming Hulu dramatized limited series about his life.
Maybe those friends and advisors would prefer to tell him that from a distance, perhaps via phone call, email, or text. The boxing icon is clearly upset about this subject and might not respond well to being told to simmer down. Heck, this column with its subsequent suggestions is being written from an undisclosed location.
For more than a year, the former heavyweight champion has denounced the project through his social media channels. According to Tyson, the streaming provider and producers for Mike (scheduled for an Aug. 25 release) stole his life story and created the eight-episode series without his permission. He renewed those attacks this past weekend on Instagram.
Tyson’s allegations of cultural appropriation and comparisons to slavery regarding someone else telling his story are certainly highly charged. But Hulu has made it clear that this is an “unauthorized” depiction of Tyson’s life, a term frequently used to indicate “This is the story they don’t want you to see!”
But recent developments in sports and pop culture have demonstrated the old saying that there’s no such thing as bad publicity when it comes to a documentary or scripted series in need of promotion.
Ask Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Jerry West. All three basketball legends criticized and condemned Winning Time, HBO’s dramatic series on the 1980s, “Showtime” era Los Angeles Lakers.
Johnson dismissed Winning Time by saying that no one from the Lakers organization — players, coaches, or executives — was involved in the making of the series.
“You need somebody who lived through it,” Johnson told Variety. “Not somebody’s opinion. Not somebody’s ‘I think.’ Not somebody’s ‘I saw.'”
Johnson’s opposition to Winning Time is understandable. He’s hardly portrayed in a flattering light, frequently showing him using people to take care of difficult matters he’d prefer to avoid, enjoying his newfound celebrity, and sleeping around with a variety of women despite professing his love for the woman who would be his future wife.
Yet Johnson may also have had an ulterior motive in wanting to promote the multi-part documentary chronicling his life. He was directly involved in the production in They Call Me Magic, recounting events in interviews and choosing director Rick Famuyiwa for the project. It should be noted that the docuseries didn’t draw nearly the same buzz or acclaim as Winning Time, maybe because HBO’s series was released first and fans thought they already got the story.
Perhaps this is one of Tyson’s concerns as well. Hulu’s series will be released long before the rival project that the boxer is executive-producing, starring Jamie Foxx and directed by Antoine Fuqua (The Equalizer). According to Variety, production for Tyson’s series has stalled because no TV or streaming network has signed on as a partner. By the time it’s released, viewers may already feel like they saw the story — and told in a more objective or sensationalistic manner.
However, in watching trailers for Mike, it seems likely that Tyson is most concerned that the Hulu series will remind viewers and fans of the scandals in his life that made him one of pop culture’s most infamous figures. Tyson’s life story can’t be accurately told without acknowledging his troubled marriage to Robin Givens and accusations of domestic violence. In 1992, he was convicted of rape, for which he served six years in prison.
Tyson’s behavior was also controversial in the ring. Considered unbeatable and potentially one of the greatest heavyweight champions of all time, he inexplicably lost to Buster Douglas in 1990. Perhaps his most disgraceful fight was in 1997, when he bit off a part of Evander Holyfield’s ear.
Despite his past, Tyson has rehabilitated his image to become a beloved cultural icon. He had a memorable appearance in the 2009 film The Hangover. He was featured in a Scooby Doo-inspired animated series, Mike Tyson Mysteries. He starred in a one-man show, Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth, that played in Las Vegas and on Broadway, and eventually toured the country.
Younger generations of fans might not even be aware of Tyson’s past wrongdoings. But the Hulu series will bring them to attention and perhaps prompt many to look up the story of those transgressions. New stories may even be written to document those events for current audiences.
Tyson’s past is a matter of public record too. Though what he did may surprise some who didn’t know already, those stories and dramatized behavior likely won’t be as jolting as Jerry West’s portrayal in Winning Time.
The Lakers star was perceived as a gentleman, not the angry, self-doubting rage monster shown in the series. But colleagues and those who covered West stuck up for him in the press, saying the depiction was unfair. Eventually, West objected himself, demanding that HBO issue a retraction of how he was portrayed and threatening to take a lawsuit all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary.
Tyson almost certainly won’t receive that kind of defense. But like West and Johnson, he’s directing attention at something he wishes people would ignore. Yes, if he feels the portrayal is unfair or that he should’ve been paid for his story, he’s entitled to object. Instead, however, Tyson is creating anticipation for this Hulu series, for which the streamer hasn’t given a big promotional push. Why bother spending money on such an effort when Tyson is already providing so much promotion?
Hulu will surely do more in the days and weeks leading up to Mike‘s premiere. But for now, all that needs to be mentioned is that the series premieres Aug. 25. Especially if Tyson continues to say more about it on social media. His natural instinct is to fight, but it might be better for him to go to the corner.
Ian Casselberry is a sports media columnist for BSM. He has previously written and edited for Awful Announcing, The Comeback, Sports Illustrated, Yahoo Sports, MLive, Bleacher Report, and SB Nation. You can find him on Twitter @iancass or reach him by email at iancass@gmail.com.
