In April, videos surfaced of Mike Tyson punching an airplane passenger. The victim, Melvin Townsend, was giving the boxer a hard time on their shared flight, and once Tyson decided he’d had enough, he assaulted Townsend numerous times.
A couple of weeks ago, the 55-year-old caught a break in the case. The San Mateo District Attorney issued a statement, saying that they would no longer be pressing the issue any further.
Following this, Tyson has begun to speak on the incident himself. In a recent episode of his podcast, Hotboxin’ With Mike Tyson, the incident got brought up by his co-host, DJ Whoo Kid. He said, “Mike just came from a nightmare on the plane,” to which Tyson enthusiastically responded, “Yes, and they said they ain’t gone pick up charges!”
As his guest stars congratulated him, he added, “He was f*cking with me man.” Matt Barnes, former NBA player, chimed in on the conversation by saying, “You kept your poise for a long time,” which caused Tyson to include the fact that he took pictures with the victim moments before assaulting him.
He also admitted that he shouldn’t be taking public planes, “My wife gets mad at me,” he added. However, he stated that he feels out of place when riding on a private aircraft, as he would have to have a bodyguard watch him. “It triggered me,” said Tyson when thinking back on what took place.
While the county has let the case go, Townsend is still capable of filing a civil lawsuit. He did lawyer up following the incident, but it has yet to be declared if he will follow through.
Watch the entire episode of the podcast below.