1:21 PM PT — The San Francisco Police Dept. tells Tyson did respond to the scene … and did detain two people they believed to be involved in the incident.
Cops added, though, that after one of the people was treated for non-life-threatening injuries, that person “provided minimal details of the incident and refused to cooperate further with the police investigation.”
The SFPD says it is aware of the video of the altercation and has forwarded it to the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office.
7:28 AM PT — Sources close to Mike claim the man was extremely intoxicated … and wouldn’t stop provoking the boxer in his seat.
Mike Tyson seemed to lose his cool on a plane on Wednesday night … repeatedly punching a man in the face after the guy had apparently annoyed him.
the incident all went down at around 10:30 PM PT as Tyson was slated to fly out of San Francisco International Airport to Florida.
A witness on the plane says as he and his friend were boarding Tyson’s flight … the boxing legend was initially cool with them and the other passengers.
The witness tells us Mike took a selfie with him … and then was patient with his overly excited buddy, who kept trying to talk to the 55-year-old fighter as he sat behind him.
Eventually, though, we’re told Tyson had enough of the guy behind him talking in his ear … and told him to chill. When the guy didn’t, that’s when the witness says Tyson started to throw several punches at the man’s face.
Video we obtained shows Tyson throwing a flurry of blows at the man, which you can see bloodied the passenger’s forehead. The witness says Mike walked off the plane just seconds later.
We’re told the man who was punched received medical attention and then went to the police over the incident. We’ve reached out to cops for comment, but so far, no word back yet.
We’ve also reached out to JetBlue and Tyson’s camp for comment on the incident as well, but no word back yet there either.
It was 4/20 in San Francisco, and nothing could stop Mike Tyson from having a great time. The legendary boxer-turned-cannabis businessman was eating edibles on the annual marijuana holiday and telling the thousands gathered in Robin Williams Meadow in Golden Gate Park that they were taking the good vibes “to another level in life.”
But as Tyson was about to fly back to Florida on Wednesday night, a JetBlue passenger sitting behind him in first class seemingly ruined his high. After the man reportedly kept harassing him, video from TMZ Sports shows Tyson appearing to repeatedly punch the man and bloody his face.
“My boy just got beat up by Mike Tyson,” a man is heard saying on one of the videos posted to TMZ.
The passenger whom Tyson appeared to punch, who is identified as “George” by a witness filming an interaction, sported three or four bloody cuts on the right side of his head moments after the encounter.
Jo Mignano, a representative for Tyson, told The Washington Post that the passenger in question threw a water bottle at Tyson.
“Unfortunately, Mr. Tyson had an incident on a flight with an aggressive passenger who began harassing him and threw a water bottle at him while he was in his seat,” she said in a statement.
It was not immediately clear whether Tyson was arrested or faces charges stemming from the incident. Federal law prohibits airline passengers from assaulting other passengers or crew members. Passengers are subject to civil penalties for any misconduct that “can threaten the safety of the flight by disrupting or distracting cabin crew from their safety duties,” according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
San Francisco Police Department spokeswoman Kathryn Winters said officers detained and released two people, one of whom “provided minimal details of the incident and refused to cooperate further with the police investigation.”
SFPD is “aware of video that possibly captured the incident,” which has been forwarded to the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office, she added.
When asked about the incident, Doug Yakel, a spokesman with San Francisco International Airport, directed all questions to JetBlue. A spokesperson for JetBlue has yet to respond to a request for comment.
In the years since his boxing career and personal life careened off the rails, Tyson has reshaped himself into a humanitarian, family man and unlikely redemption story.
“I’m capable of helping a lot of people less fortunate than myself — that’s what I’m capable of doing, all over the world,” Tyson said during a post-fight news conference after his 2020 exhibition match against Roy Jones Jr. that ended in a draw. “In a perfect world, I’m a missionary, in a perfect world. What I’m doing in the ring, I realize, is a gift not only for myself.
“Before, it was all about me and the hot chick and the nice car and plane and the boats. It doesn’t do it for me anymore, so I want another way. I help somebody else, I guess, right, because I don’t get into that no more. I like my pigeons and my fancy clothes, but other than that, I don’t want anything. I have a life.”
Mike Tyson fought for the first time in 15 years. So much had changed.
All the while, the Tyson 2.0 cannabis brand has become a multimillion-dollar success. His company offers several strains of cannabis flower, according to SFGATE. Among the products offered are ear-shaped edibles — a callback to Tyson’s 1997 rematch against Evander Holyfield in which Tyson bit off part of Holyfield’s ear in one of the most bizarre fights in boxing history.
On Wednesday, Tyson appeared at the 420 Hippie Hill festival in San Francisco to promote his cannabis brand and present Eve Meyer, who headed up the nonprofit San Francisco Suicide Prevention for 30 years, with the festival’s inaugural community and compassion award, according to SFGATE.
“Listen, we’re gonna take this to another level in life,” said Tyson, whom one person described as being in “the best mood.” “I’m the world champion, and now I’m the world champion of cannabis, and we can’t be stopped. Look at us. Thousands of people looking at us, and we’re getting high. This is beautiful. … Look at me, baby, look how beautiful I look up here.”
Hours later, Tyson’s mood on his redeye flight to Fort Lauderdale was ruined by a passenger who appeared to talk his ear off, TMZ reported. After Tyson took a selfie with him, the man, identified as “George,” is shown saying something to the former boxer. Tyson appears unimpressed and bothered.
“He over here rapping with Tyson,” said the witness in one of the two videos posted to TMZ. The witness said of his friend, “He don’t know how to act.”
Another video shows Tyson and the passenger in the middle of the altercation, with Tyson swinging at the man’s chest as the passenger tried to stave him off.
“Hey, hey, hey, hey!” one man is heard yelling in the video. “Hey, Mike! Mike, c’mon!”
It’s not the first time in recent weeks that someone has badgered Tyson in a public setting. While he was attending a comedy show in Hollywood last month, a rowdy spectator interrupted the comedian to challenge Tyson to a fight. Tyson remained calm and eventually hugged the man, but the scene turned dangerous when the man pulled a loaded gun from his waistband, causing audience members to scramble for cover.
While questions remain about the airplane incident, many on social media have already sided with Tyson. Comedian Jim Norton joked that Tyson “handled an unruly passenger on a plane the way every unruly passenger should be handled on a plane.” Rapper and actor Ice T reflected on how it’s a problem when people such as the JetBlue passenger “think they WON’T get punched in the Face.” Another observer comically summed up what most people would have done if the former “Baddest Man on the Planet” asked them to stop bugging him.
“While I am not saying Mike Tyson was right in punching dude, if Mike Tyson tells me to leave him alone, I’m going to try to change seats just in case I fall asleep so my snoring doesn’t disturb him,” he wrote.