By Johnny Walker
Mike Tyson’s one-man show about his life, entitled Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth, produced by moviemaker Spike Lee, will soon make its way to television.
The show, in which Tyson takes time to even the score as he sees it with enemies like trainer Teddy Atlas, promoter Don King, ex-wife Robin Givens and Desiree Washington, who accused him of a rape for which he was convicted and jailed, was a big hit when it ran on Broadway in Manhattan.
In Undisputed Truth, Tyson comes across not as the kind of drug-snorting, ear-biting madman he has often been depicted as in the media, but rather as a playful, fun guy who loves his pet birds and loves telling stories, a transformation he attributes to Prozac.
“”Mike Tyson is the most honest human being I’ve ever met in my life,” says producer Spike Lee.
“Most human beings are not going to display the dark parts of themselves, the demons they have, to the world,” Lee said . “He says, ‘I’m going to tell you the truth This is my life and do with it what you will.’ This is the most courageous thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Tyson recently said that walking onstage to perform a live show is similar to going into the ring. He said the biggest difference between the two is he doesn’t have to go to the hospital after he performs.
“There’s no way I’m Charles Manson, but I’m never going to be Mother Teresa, either,” Tyson admits.
Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth will debut on HBO later this year.
