“Don’t let Hulu fool you. I do not support their story for the life of me. It’s not 1822. It’s 2022,” Tyson’s statement on Instagram read. “They stole my life story and didn’t pay me. To Hulu executives I’m just a **** they can sell on the auction block.” In the social media post, Tyson captioned it, “Hulu is the slave master’s stream. They stole my story and didn’t pay me.” Tyson’s latest post came on the heels of another post he made on the same social media platform where he praised UFC president Dana White for allegedly refusing to promote the Hulu series. “Hulu tried desperately to pay my brother @danawhite millions without offering me a single dollar to promote their slave master take on my life story,” Tyson claimed in a statement posted on Instagram. “He rejected it because he values friendship and treating people with dignity. I will never forget what he did for me, just as I will never forget what Hulu stole from me.” At Hulu’s Television Critics Tour panel on Thursday, showrunner Karen Gist addressed the show’s unauthorized nature. “We just wanted to tell an unbiased story and let the audience decide what they think or feel,” Gist said. “Challenging what people think they know about Mike and hoping they come away from the show with something else to think about. Love him or hate him, the story makes you wonder how complicit society has been? That was the intention, that was the North Star for the writers’ room as we created stories.” This wasn’t the first time the heavyweight champion hit out at Hulu for the biopic. In February 2021, Tyson also took to Instagram to raise his voice against the streamer after the project was announced. “Hulu’s announcement to make an unauthorized miniseries of Tyson’s story without compensation, while unfortunate, is not surprising,” the boxer said in a now-deleted post. “This announcement in the wake of the social inequities in our country is a prime example of how Hulu’s corporate greed led to this cultural misappropriation of Tyson’s life story. Making this announcement during Black History Month only confirms Hulu’s concern for dollars to respect the rights of black history. Hollywood needs to be more sensitive to black experiences, especially after everything that happened in 2020.” “Mike” is set to premiere on August 25 on Hulu. The series was created by Steven Rogers (I, Tonya) and stars Trevante Rhodes. Other cast members include Russell Hornsby, Harvey Keitel, Laura Harrier and Li Eubanks.
