Mike Tyson and Spike Lee's Memorable Time on The Today Show
by Jeff Jones
A household name in the film industry who has been nominated
for – and won – Academy awards, International Film Festival awards, and
American Black Film Festival awards pairs his talents with an internationally
known athlete, who many consider the most talented to ever participate in his
sport. This seems like a match made in
heaven right?
Wrong!
This morning, director Spike Lee and former heavyweight
boxing champion Mike Tyson appeared on the Today show to promote their new
one-man Broadway show – a show starring the rarely coherent Tyson.
The two, along with NBC correspondent Ann Curry, proceeded
to participate in what was surely one of the most confusing and cringe-worthy
interviews The Today Show has ever
aired.
The interview starts with Tyson giving credit to the movie A Bronx Tale for planting this idea in
his head. After the former champ disjointedly
stumbles through the telling of that story, Lee – who at times seems like Tyson’s
“handler” –tries desperately to save the interview.
Things seem to go well (or at least as well as expected) for
a while, until the trio starts discussing the changes taking place in Tyson’s
life – and diet.
“Oh you’re a vegan?! What changed you?” asks Curry, the
interviewer throughout this uncomfortable Q&A session.
Though this question would typically be answered by some
combination of addressing health concerns, showing compassion towards animals,
or being environmentally friendly – Tyson chooses to respond a different way. Saying he had to “throw in the white flag” because
there were “too many prison cells, too many jails, too many law suits, too many
women” and let’s not forget “too many venereal diseases.”
Somehow Ann Curry is able to save the
interview after this wildly inappropriate response and get some more productive
Q&A time with director Spike Lee.
That is until Tyson cuts in and ineffectively tries to compare his struggles in
the ring to his struggles on stage.
This last interjection was enough to prompt the director to
play exit music and cue Curry to put this interview out of its misery.
Ultimately, no one knows yet how well this one-man Broadway
show will do. But if its success is dependant
on how well the duo of Spike Lee and Mike Tyson can interview and market the show,
I doubt anyone should expect this to be an award-winning performance.
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