Mike Tyson is criticizing Hulu’s biopic series about his life and career.
Tyson took to Instagram to share his disdain over the upcoming eight-episode limited series over the weekend. Titled Mike, the miniseries explores the ups and downs of Tyson’s boxing career and personal life–from being a beloved global athlete to a pariah and back again. The series debuts on Aug. 25.
“Don’t let Hulu fool you,” Tyson wrote. “I don’t support their story about my life. It’s not 1822. It’s 2022. They stole my life story and didn’t pay me.”
“To Hulu executives, I’m just a n****r they can sell on the auction block,” he added.
Tyson also called Hulu “the streaming version of the slave master” in a caption.
In a separate post, Tyson wrote that Hulu tried to offer Dana White, the president of UFC, millions to promote the story without offering him anything. Tyson commended White for turning it down, saying the UFC president “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,” he added.
This isn’t the first time Tyson has slammed the Hulu project.
In Feb. 2021, the former boxing champ shared the following statement on Instagram (now-deleted): “Hulu’s announcement to do an unauthorized mini-series of the Tyson story without compensation, although unfortunate, isn’t surprising. 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. To make this announcement during Black History Month only confirms Hulu’s concern for dollars over respect for black story rights.”
The series, from creator/screenwriter Steven Rogers, writer and producer of I, Tonya, and showrunner Karin Gist, executive producer of Our Kind of People, examines class and race in America, fame, the power of media and the promise of the American Dream.
Hulu describes the series as “an unauthorized and no-holds-barred look at the life of Mike Tyson.”