Former heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson informs his followers to boycott Hulu following the streaming service’s decision to move forward with the unauthorized “Iron Mike” documentary series.
via: Revolt
Mike Tyson wants fans to refrain from using Hulu after they chose to green light an unauthorized docuseries about his life.
On Thursday (Feb. 25), the streaming platform picked up “Iron Mike,” an eight-episode miniseries about the “wild, tragic and controversial” moments of Tyson’s boxing career. As the boxer was not at all involved in the show’s creation, he is now speaking out against the platform for attempting to monetize off of his life story.
“Hulu’s announcement to do an unauthorized mini-series of the Tyson story without compensation, although unfortunate, isn’t surprising,” the Brooklyn native said in a statement. “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,” he continued. “Hollywood needs to be more sensitive to Black experiences especially after all that has transpired in 2020. The real Mike Tyson authorized story is in development and will be announced in coming days.”
Per the Hollywood Reporter, Hulu declined to comment on the situation, but sources say executives of the streaming platform made Tyson aware of the forthcoming series a few months back.
The boxing legend’s desires to be compensated for content he inspired is not far-fetched. Similarly, Dave Chappelle asked fans to boycott platforms like Netflix and HBO Max when ViacomCBS streamed the “Chappelle’s Show” without his permission and failed to pay him for it. The sketch-comedy show was removed from both platforms at Chappelle’s request, and months after a successful boycott, it made its return to Netflix following the comedian’s new deal with Comedy Central.
“I asked you to stop watching the show and thank God almighty for you, you did. You made that show worthless because without your eyes it’s nothing,” Chappelle previously said. “And when you stopped watching it, they called me…I got my name back, and I got my license back,and I got my show back, and they paid me millions of dollars. Thank you very much.”
Make it right Hulu, run Mike his money.
