Mike Tyson in £1.5m legal battle over refusal to appear on livestream with giant talking pigeon

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Mike Tyson and his wife are involved in a £1.5m High Court legal battle following claims the heavyweight fighter unlawfully withdrew from a lucrative marketing campaign because he refused to appear on camera with a giant talking pigeon.

Medier Ltd, the company operating the Rabona online gambling brand, is suing the 60-year-old and his promotional business, Tyrannic – which is “controlled” by his wife, Lakiha Tyson – in London.

The firm alleges a breach of a sponsorship agreement signed in January 2024.

Promoters claim that Tyson unlawfully walked away from the campaign due to scheduling conflicts with the build-up to his 2024 fight against YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul. The planned commercial would have involved Tyson being interviewed by a presenter wearing a giant talking pigeon costume, before teaching the character how to box.

Lawyers acting for the promoters argue that Tyson and the company “simply lost interest” in the project once the far more lucrative $15m exhibition match was confirmed.

Tyson and Tyrannic deny breaching the contract, countering that Medier broke the agreement first by demanding the boxer take part in a bizarre “Talking Pigeons” video project.

Under that proposed concept, Tyson was expected to read scripted lines with four presenters — one in a pigeon suit — and “share childhood stories” before giving boxing lessons using a mannequin bearing the face of his former opponent, Evander Holyfield.

Legal representatives for Tyson said that the “performance” demanded for the live stream went “far beyond the scope of what might reasonably be considered to have even been required” under their contract, which they say was restricted to recording him playing “casino games” or other “approved” features on the site.

During his peak, Tyson established himself as one of boxing’s most formidable figures through his explosive power and dynamic style, becoming the youngest heavyweight champion in history at age 20 in 1986, before eventually retiring with 50 victories and seven defeats.

His fondness for racing pigeons has been well documented over the years, and in his autobiography he detailed how his love for them helped him deal with a troubled childhood in New York.

He has also previously admitted having been terrified of confrontation and only got into fighting after beating up a man who killed his pet pigeon.

Mr Justice Richards heard that the veteran boxer had agreed to promote “gaming services” under the Rabona brand, doing so at live streaming events and also attending a major gambling conference scheduled to take place in Amsterdam between July 16-19 2024.

The contract with Medier involved an instalment-based $2m fee for Tyson, payable to Tyrannic, out of which he was paid nearly $190,000 before they parted company.

But barrister Ali Reza Sinai, for Medier, said that Tyson and Tyrannic LLC subsequently broke the contract by failing to perform agreed live streaming events and by “terminating” the contract without proper notice.

Mr Sinai labelled Tyson’s Netflix deal to fight Jake Paul the “elephant in the room”, arguing that the boxer “simply lost interest” in his Rabona deal.

The court heard Tyson’s bout with Jake Paul was originally slated to happen on July 20 2024, although it ultimately took place in November, with Tyson beaten by the YouTuber turned boxer.

But the deal agreed with Medier envisaged that Tyson would attend a “PR event” for Rabona at the high profile gambling conference in Amsterdam between July 16-19 2024.

Medier’s barrister claimed the right “inference” was that Tyson and Tyrannic feared that participating in the Amsterdam event would conflict with the terms of his Netflix deal, which curtailed non-fight related sponsorship in the build-up to the Jake Paul clash.

There was, the barrister argued, “a clear and significant risk that the defendants would be viewed as being in breach of the (Netflix agreement) by a potential conflicting sponsorship event in Amsterdam which would shortly start to be advertised by Medier”.

“Thus the defendants simply lost interest in the service agreement once the more rewarding exhibition fight was firmly agreed,” said Mr Sinai in his written court submissions.

“The performance of the service agreement became inconvenient for Tyrannic and Tyson,” he added.

But denying the allegation on behalf of the boxer and Tyrannic, barrister Amanda Hadkiss told the court the “performance” demanded of Tyson in the live stream event went “far beyond the scope of what might reasonably be considered to have even been required in order to comply with Tyrannic’s obligations.

“Medier was requiring Tyson to participate in an entertainment show format named ‘Talking Pigeons’,” she said.

“The show was to involve four other – unspecified – presenters. One of them was to be dressed as a giant pigeon.

“Following a scripted role play performance, Tyson was then to be required to deliver scripted lines and to interact with the presenter and the pigeon by being ‘beamed in’ to the presenters’ studio via video link.

“Tyson was then to be required to be asked a series of questions; to share childhood stories; to teach the presenters how to box using a mannequin containing the face of his former boxing opponent, Evander Holyfield, which the presenters were to punch – and then to play casino games on the Rabona website while interacting with the presenters.

“The defendants’ position is that the nature of the performance which it was agreed that Tyson would give and which Tyrannic was therefore contractually obliged to provide, is clear.

“It was agreed that the activities Tyson would be filmed whilst carrying out were ‘playing in casino games’ such as ‘slots poker roulette etc’.

“It was agreed that Tyson would alternatively be filmed playing in ‘other games and events’ but so long as these other games and events were ‘included in Rabona’s website’ and so long as they had been ‘approved’.

“The nature of the performance Medier was requiring Tyson to give within that stream was both of a very different nature to and exceeded the scope of the performance [the contract] required that Tyson would provide.

“Tyrannic did not therefore breach [the contract] as a result of indicating in advance that Tyson would not be attending such an event and/or because of Tyson”s non-attendance at the event,” the barrister said.

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