Ｍ・タイソン氏、半生を「盗用」した配信ドラマを批判

【ロサンゼルスＡＦＰ＝時事】ボクシング、元世界ヘビー級王者のマイク・タイソン氏が、同氏を題材にした無許可のドラマが自分の半生を盗用したものだとして、米動画配信サービス「Ｈｕｌｕ（フールー）」を「奴隷の主人」と批判している。（写真はマイク・タイソン氏。資料写真）
　今月２５日から、米娯楽・メディア大手ウォルト・ディズニー傘下のＨｕｌｕで配信予定のドラマ「マイク」は、タイソン氏の子ども時代からレイプ事件で有罪判決を受けた１９９２年まで、世間を騒がせた同氏の人生を脚色したドラマとなっている。
　舌足らずでいじめられた幼少期や、ブルックリンのストリートギャングに加わって刑務所への出入りを繰り返した１０代、そしてボクサーとしてのキャリア初期が描かれているほか、数々の有名なファイトでリングに立つタイソン氏を映し出す一方で、波乱に満ちた私生活にも焦点を当てている。
　タイソン氏は自身のインスタグラムアカウントで「Ｈｕｌｕは奴隷の主人のストリーミング版だ。俺の半生を奪ったうえに金を払いもしない」と批判し、黒人の蔑称「ｎｉｇｇｅｒ」の一部を隠しつつ、「Ｈｕｌｕの重役たちにとって、俺はオークションに出せるただのｎ＊＊＊＊ｒだ」と投稿した。
　作品のクリエーターで脚本家のスティーブン・ロジャース氏は、製作陣がタイソン氏と「話さなかった」のは、別のプロジェクトによって「同氏の半生の権利は、とっくに奪われているため」とテレビ評論家協会（ＴＣＡ）に説明した。
　また、タイソン氏の人生を非公認で描くことの利点についても指摘し、一つの情報源に頼りたくないとして「私は調査をしてあらゆる見解を集め、その全てを物語に取り入れることが本当に好きなんだ」と話すと、「一人だけに頼るのは好まない」と述べた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/08/10-14:17）

Former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson has accused an unauthorized television drama of stealing his life story, comparing the streaming platform behind the upcoming series to a slave master.
Mike, which premieres on US streamer Hulu August 25, is a scripted drama that re-enacts moments from the controversial fighter's life, from his early childhood and through his 1992 rape conviction.
Hulu is the streaming version of the slave master. They stole my story and didn't pay me, wrote Tyson on Instagram.
He added: 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 wrote, using asterisks in place of letters.
Hulu, which is only available in the United States, is majority-owned by Disney.
The show depicts Tyson being bullied as a young child with a lisp, his teenage years in and out of prison after joining a Brooklyn street gang, and his early start in boxing.
While the eight-part limited series shows Tyson in the ring during various famous bouts, it concentrates on his turbulent private life.
One episode focuses on Desiree Washington, the 18-year-old beauty pageant contestant who accused Tyson of rape in 1991. He was convicted the following year, and jailed for three years.
The episode tells the events of the rape in an Indianapolis hotel room, and the ensuing trial, from Washington's perspective and with her narration.
Creator and screenwriter Steven Rogers said the filmmakers actually couldn't talk to Tyson because his life rights were already taken by another project.
But he also pointed to the benefits of an unauthorized take on Tyson's life, saying I don't 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, he told a recent Television Critics Association panel.
I don't like to be beholden to just one person.
Trevante Rhodes, who plays Tyson in the eight-part limited series, said it feels best at least to detach yourself as much as you can.
Asked if he was worried about angering Tyson -- considered one of the best heavyweights of all time, who infamously bit off a piece of Evander Holyfield's ear in a 1997 bout -- Rhodes simply replied: Nah.
- 'Baddest man on the planet' -
While confronting allegations of domestic violence, the show also contextualizes the violence Tyson suffered as a child, the early loss of his mother to cancer, his drug addiction issues, and efforts by establishment figures to take advantage of Tyson's lucrative success in the ring.
When I was researching it, I found that a lot of the issues that we're struggling with today -- like Black Lives Matter, and MeToo, and prison reform and addiction and mental health issues all the stuff that we're struggling with -- have their roots in this one man's story, said showrunner Karin Gist.
So it felt like a really good time to tell it, through the lens of the baddest man on the planet.
Rogers added: I would hope that if he watches it, that he would change his opinion.