Mike Tyson is squaring up with Hulu over the new series “Mike.”
In a series of statements posted on his social media accounts Saturday, the famous boxer aired out the company for allegedly producing the biographical series without his approval and not providing compensation.
In an Instagram post, Tyson noted he doesn’t support Hulu’s upcoming limited series about his life and career: “Hulu is the streaming version of the slave master. They stole my story and didn’t pay me.”
The former undisputed world heavyweight champion also expressed his disdain for the upcoming show on Twitter.
“Hulu stole my story. They’re Goliath and I’m David. Heads will roll for this,” Tyson wrote.
Back in June, the subscription streaming service announced that “Mike” was set to premiere on Aug. 25.
Following its announcement, the eight-episode series has since been a sore subject for the boxer.
In a statement to Entertainment Tonight, Tyson further slammed Hulu for telling his life story without reaching out to him.
“My life rights option expired years ago. Hulu nor any of their supercilious team ever tried to engage in any negotiations with this Black man. In their eyes I am still just a n****r on the auction block ready to be sold for their profit without any regard for my worth or my family,” he told the outlet.
“They say this story is an exploration of a Black man. 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 frontmen for their backdoor robbery is appalling. I will always remember this blatant disregard of my dignity,” Tyson added.
Starring Trevante Rhodes (“Moonlight”) as Tyson, the show says it will detail “the tumultuous ups and downs of Tyson’s boxing career and personal life ― from being a beloved global athlete to a pariah and back again,” according to Hulu’s official synopsis.
Tyson’s latest series of digs at the streamer came after he posted on Instagram on Saturday to praise UFC president Dana White for allegedly turning down an opportunity to promote the series.
“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,” he wrote.
“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.”
Karin Gist, a showrunner for “Mike,” talked about the series at Hulu’s Television Critics Tour panel on Thursday, according to Deadline.
“We just wanted to tell an unbiased story and have the audience decide what they think or feel,” Gist said. “Challenging what people think they know about Mike and hoping that they come away from the series with something else to think about. Whether you like him or hate him, does the story make you question how complicit society has been? That was the intention, that was the North Star for the writers’ room as we were crafting stories.”
After Hulu first ordered the limited series in February 2021, Tyson spoke out against the production early last year in a since-deleted Instagram post.
He called it “cultural misappropriation” and said that unauthorized account of a Black man’s life coming “on the heels of social disparities in our country” was a “prime example” of Hulu’s “corporate greed.”
Tyson is reportedly working on a separate project about his life with Jamie Foxx and director Antoine Fuqua.
HuffPost has reached out to Hulu for comment.
