Mike Tyson: Bigoted Tea Party Can't Stand Seeing Obama as 'Strongest Man on the Planet'
Former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson believes America has
become more racist since Barack Obama was elected president, and that
groups like the Tea Party have surfaced through that racism. Tyson's
interview by CNN's Piers Morgan aired on Thursday night's Piers Morgan
Tonight.
Tyson professed that "there's a great possibility" that America has
become more racist since Obama's election, and when asked to clarify he
affirmed "a hundred percent, yes."
"Because that's how these groups surface, these red – Tea Party and everything," Tyson added.
Tyson observed that "it's new stuff" that a black man has "the image of
the strongest man on the planet." He seemed to infer that is "pretty
tough to take in" for his opponents. "And that must be pretty tough to
take in when you – I don't know," he told Morgan.
However, when asked how he well thought President Obama was performing, Tyson answered "I don't know."
[Video below.]
A transcript of the segment, which aired on March 29 on Piers Morgan Tonight at 9:33 p.m. EDT, is as follows:
PIERS MORGAN: Did you think America, Mike, has
become more or less racist since Barack Obama, an African-American,
became president?
MIKE TYSON, former undisputed heavyweight champion: There's a great possibility, yes.
MORGAN: That it's become worse?
TYSON: A hundred percent, yes. Because that's how these groups surface,
these red – Tea Party and everything. Listen, it's new stuff, being a
black man, having the image of the strongest man on the planet, the
biggest man in the world, from a political point – standpoint – that's
a political standpoint, you can send the strongest army in the world
and in the country and stuff. And that must be pretty tough to take in
when you – I don't know. It's just the way this country is. I just
believe this is just the best country in the world. We just have
problems we have to iron out, but –
MORGAN: How do you think Barack Obama's doing as president?
TYSON: I don't know. I live in a Barack Obama household. From – from
ethnicity, I think that's beautiful seeing a black president, for my
children to see a black president. But I'm just – regardless if he's
president or not, I have to be the bread winner of my family. If he's
the president or if he's not a president, I'm going to be the one
paying the bills and working. So it really doesn't matter.
-- Matt Hadro is a News Analyst at the Media Research Center
