Mike Tyson unleashed his legal team after discovering his name was falsely tied to a benefit for a Christian-themed boxing gym in Pennsylvania. The heavyweight champ, 56, never signed on to attend the event on October 29, despite his name being listed first on the charity poster, RadarOnline.com has learned.
“Fall Brawl” is set to take place this weekend at 5 Stones Fight Club, but their biggest star won’t be there. Tyson took to his social media to clear up the confusion after discovering the charity event had been hawking his name to sell tickets.
Posting a statement on his Instagram Wednesday, the boxing legend said, “My name has been falsely used to promote a charity event in Palmyra, Pennsylvania called ‘fall brawl.’ The first time I was aware of this event was when press started to circulate.
“I take charity very seriously and to misuse my name and likeness to willingly promote an event falsely misrepresenting my attendance to raise funds is irresponsible and unfair to patrons that have paid money expecting my attendance.”
Tyson doubled down, making it crystal clear he won’t be at the charity event.
“I am not attending ‘Fall Brawl’ in Palmrya, PA and have never discussed such attendance with anyone responsible for this event; all representations about my attendance are false,” he captioned his statement.
He signed off by adding, “My legal team is looking into this matter.”
However, 5 Stones’ CEO Shane Manney is fighting back, claiming he has emails from someone who committed Tyson to the event — but it turned out to be a scam.
Manney told Pennlive.com that he has contacted his lawyer about the incident after discovering the person who organized Tyson’s appearance did not actually represent the boxer.
“We were scammed,” Manney said Thursday morning. “Unfortunately, I can’t fix it. We don’t want to lie to people.”
RadarOnline.com did some digging and discovered that Manney has already altered the event poster by scribbling out Tyson’s name.