Former world heavyweight boxing champion turned convicted rapist Mike Tyson is defending former President Donald Trump by suggesting that the ex-president’s experience with the legal system is akin to how Black people are treated in America.
The ex-professional fighter known as Iron Mike made the head-turning comments in an interview with Semafor for a story examining the coterie of Black celebrities from the 1980s and 1990s who have long traveled in the felonious ex-president’s social circle and are supporting him as he looks to return to the White House following this year’s presidential election.
Trump himself has drawn criticism from some Black politicians and leaders by suggesting that his status as a convicted felon would endear him to Black Americans. In remarks to a group of Black conservatives in February, he claimed Black people “like him” because “they have been hurt so badly and discriminated against, and they actually viewed me as I’m being discriminated against.”
“The mug shot, we’ve all seen the mug shot, and you know who embraced it more than anybody else? The Black population. It’s incredible. You see Black people walking around with my mug shot, you know they do shirts,” he said.
Tyson, who became the youngest-ever world heavyweight champion in 1987 before losing the title in 1990 and going to prison after a rape conviction two years later, echoed the former president’s sentiment in remarks to Semafor.
“If I never saw Donald Trump and didn’t know he was white, I would think that he was Black,” he said.
“The way they were treating him in the papers and in the press? Think about that, the way they treat him in court? That’s the way they did Black people,” Tyson added.
The former heavyweight champion is tentatively set to take on YouTube star turned boxer Jake Paul in an exhibition match scheduled for November 15, ten days after Trump will face off against President Joe Biden in the 2024 general election.