Mike Tyson has offered his praise for Dana White after the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) president reportedly turned down millions to promote the upcoming Hulu series Mike.
If you haven’t seen the trailer for Mike it’s certainly worth a watch (see HERE). The limited series is coming to Hulu on Aug. 25 and will tell the story of Tyson’s life from his childhood to his infamous boxing career. Tyson has made it known that he’s not happy with the way his life is being portrayed in the series by calling it a “tone-deaf cultural misappropriation of my life story,” per Entertainment Weekly.
Unfortunately, “Iron Mike” doesn’t own his life rights anymore and is unable to have a say at this point in time.
“We actually couldn’t talk to him because his life rights were already taken, so that was never on the table. I would hope that if he watches it that he would change his opinion,” executive producer Steven Rogers told reporters earlier this week. ”For me, as a writer, as a storyteller, I don’t really like to be reliant on just one source. I really like to do the research and get all these different opinions and then put a story around all of that. I don’t like to be beholden to just one person.”
Tyson offered another comment through his rep after learning about Rogers’ take on the entire ordeal. Let’s just say the former heavyweight champion was not happy.
“They say this story is an exploration of a Black man,” said Tyson. “It’s more like an exploitation of a Black man. Hulu thinks their tracks are covered by hiring Black sacrificial lambs to play the part as front men for their backdoor robbery is appalling. I will always remember this blatant disregard of my dignity.”
On Friday night, Tyson took to Instagram to reveal that White was offered millions to help promote the upcoming Mike series. According to Tyson, the UFC president turned down the offer in support of their friendship.
“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,” wrote Tyson. “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.”
It’s not like White needs a few measly million at this point in time, but it’s nice to see him take friendship over finance. Tyson and White have been connected for quite some time so it makes sense for the UFC president to step up when he was needed.