Mike Tyson, a former world heavyweight boxing champion who was convicted of rape, compared the legal system’s treatment of former President Donald Trump to that of Black people, according to a new report.
Tyson echoed Trump’s own claims that his prosecution in Manhattan criminal court — which ended with a unanimous guilty verdict on 34 counts of falsifying business records — was comparable to the historic injustice Black people have faced in American courtrooms, Semafor reported Friday.
“The way they treat him in court?” Tyson reportedly said, “That’s the way they did Black people.”
This comment echoes one Trump made in February when he boasted the “Black population” loved to see his Fulton County mug shot from his Georgia election racketeering case, Semafor reports.
The outlet also notes Trump and his legal team frequently draw comparisons to the South African civil rights leader Nelson Mandela, imprisoned for decades as a political opponent to apartheid.
Tyson, convicted on charges he raped an 18-year-old beauty pageant contestant, appears to agree with this comparison.
“If I never saw Donald Trump and didn’t know he was white,” Tyson told Semafor. “I would think that he was Black.”
For his part, Trump has called Tyson’s conviction a “travesty.”
Trump’s comments have spurred criticism both from Democrats who accuse him on relying upon “ugly stereotypes” and Black conservatives who say his message isn’t landing, Semafor reports.
Michaelah Montgomery, a conservative activist, told Semafor she’s asked Trump to stop saying that Black people like him because he’s been convicted.
“The Black people don’t like you because you’re a felon,” Montgomery reportedly said she told Trump. “The Black people who like you like you because they feel like you’re experiencing the things that they have been complaining about for years, and now maybe you can shine a light on the cries that have been falling on deaf ears for all of this time.”
Writer Kadia Goba argues Trump’s messaging is best explained by looking at the people, such as Tyson, whom the former president counts among his confidants.
“It might make some people cringe,” she writes, “but it’s easier to understand where Trump gets the impression this is a relatable message when you’re spending time with his famous friends.”
