Playboy Interview: Mike Tyson
November, 1998
When Mike Tyson enters the lobby of the Trump International Hotel in New York, he makes it clear he's none too happy. And when the meanest boxer who has ever lived is in a bad mood, it's a sight to behold. He is scheduled to finish the second lengthy session of the "Playboy Interview" in his hotel suite, but his mood, and the rules, have changed. He demands that this phase of the interview take place in Central Park, where the sun and humidity will cause his bodyguard to fetch a towel so Tyson can mop his sweat.
The weather isn't the only thing that's hot. Tyson's temper continues to boil as well. He flares at questions that he considers negative and slips into either brooding silence or manic free association. He is an athlete as famous for his troubled personal life as for his sports achievements, and on this sweltering New York afternoon, it's easy to see why.
Of course, he has reason to be upset. In a few days, Tyson 's lawyers will begin proceedings to help him regain his boxing license, first in New Jersey, then in Nevada. He lost his license--in spectacular fashion--in June 1997 in Las Vegas when, during his second bout with Evander Holyfield (Mike had lost the first), Tyson became so enraged that he bit off part of his opponent's ear. The Nevada State Athletic Commission hit him with a $3 million fine and revoked his license for a minimum of one year.
As he sits in the park, Tyson doesn't know if he'll be allowed to fight again. He feels that the sport needs him--no boxer since Muhammad Ali has captured the public's imagination the way Tyson has, and no other fighter can command the multimillion-dollar deals that make everyone in boxing happy. At the same time, no other athlete has been demonized the way Tyson has, though he has brought on much of the flack himself. The 32-year-old has been in frequent trouble with the law, including a highly publicized rape conviction for which he served a three-year prison term. Even his suspension has been marred by controversy--more problems with the police and a dramatic split from his promoter Don King, who Tyson claims has bilked him out of millions of dollars.
No wonder he's angry. He's been angry his entire life.
Tyson was born on June 30, 1966 and grew up the youngest of three children in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn. He became a pickpocket on public buses, rolling drunks and relieving old ladies of their purses. By the time he was 13, he had been arrested 38 times and was eventually held in a "bad cottage" in the Tryon School for Boys detention facility in upstate New York.
It was there that Tyson learned to box. Bobby Stewart, one of the counselors and a former boxer himself, sensed Tyson's potential and took him under his wing. Stewart introduced the teenager to legendary trainer Cus D'Amato, a man considered odd even by boxing standards. D'Amato believed he had ESP and had a lecture for every human weakness. Over the years he had produced two champions--Floyd Patterson and Jose Torres. D'Amato was a suspicious man, generally had no use for society and was a socialist. By the time he got Tyson, he was viewed as a cranky recluse who ran a gym in Catskill, New York.
Aging and desperate for another champion, D'Amato became obsessed with the young Tyson. He channeled Tyson's physical strength and rage, and set about chiseling his masterpiece, a kid who he predicted would be a champion by the age of 19.
Tyson's brief amateur career showed promise, but it wasn't until he turned pro in March 1985 that he began to fulfill that promise. By the end of that year, he had 15 victories, all by knockouts, and no defeats. "Sports Illustrated" called him "the most devastating puncher in boxing, a remorseless attacker." After 27 consecutive victories, he fought Trevor Berbick for the World Boxing Council heavyweight title in November 1986. The match took less than six minutes, and when it was over, Mike Tyson was the youngest heavyweight champ ever at the age of 20--missing D'Amato's prediction by only one year.
D'Amato didn't live to see his protégé get the belt--he died of pneumonia in November 1985. That left Tyson's career in the hands of co-managers Jimmy Jacobs and Bill Cayton, who had worked with D'Amato. But when Jacobs died in 1988, Tyson felt he had lost his family. His career continued to thrive, however. He unified the heavyweight division, winning the title from all three boxing associations, and became the first undisputed heavyweight champ since Ali ten years earlier. Even more impressive were the purses: $20 million for fighting Michael Spinks in 1988; $30 million for a bout with Frank Bruno in 1996. The ill-fated incident with Holyfield broke records with 1.8 million viewers on pay-per-view, bringing in $90 million in revenues.
Tyson couldn't have done this alone. At his side (or inside his head, depending on whom you want to believe) was the colorful Don King, the most powerful promoter in boxing.
What drew Tyson to King was the fact that King too was an ex-con, and in Tyson's mind, he had the élan of a gangster. Tyson's view of King wavered between awe and disrespect. The latter surfaced whenever the press hinted that King was running him. Rumors circulated that Tyson had slapped King on several occasions and berated him at whim. Earlier this year Tyson fired King, though time remains on the promoter's contract. A long and bitter legal fight is under way.
This kind of fight will be nothing new to Tyson. He has spent more time in court than he has in the ring. In all, Tyson has fought fewer than 200 rounds during his professional career and has gone the full 12 rounds only three times--giving him a 45-3 record, with 39 knockouts.
In 1988, he married actor Robin Givens--a relationship that was marred by Givens' accusations (made during the couple's televised interview with Barbara Walters) that Tyson abused her. He had a couple of highly publicized car crashes (after running his Rolls-Royce into a parked car, Tyson told the cops to keep the $180,000 automobile, saying, "I've had nothing but bad luck with this car") and a few miscellaneous run-ins with police. He's been accused of assaulting various photographers and parking lot attendants, and has seen his share of brawling outside the ring.
In 1990, his fight with Alex Stewart was postponed when Tyson supposedly got a sparring cut. Not so, reported "New York Newsday." Trump Plaza staffers said that a woman hit him over the head with a champagne bottle in one of the hotel rooms. Security guards found the woman "not in great shape," with a bleeding Tyson yelling, "The bitch deserved it!"
Events took a more serious turn on July 20, 1991 when Desiree Washington, then 18, filed rape charges against Tyson in Indianapolis, where she was competing in the Miss Black America Pageant. On February 10, 1992, he was convicted of rape and two counts of criminal deviate conduct. Although sentenced to six years, Tyson steadfastly denies the rape, saying he and Washington had had consensual sex. He was released after three years from the Indiana Youth Center minimum-security prison, during which time he converted to Islam.
After prison Tyson seemed to settle down, and he punched his way through a group of "unfits" toward Holyfield. In April 1997 he married his current wife, Monica Turner, a pediatrician (the mother of two of his children). They live in a sizable house that borders the Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland, just outside Washington. He also has large homes in Las Vegas and Ohio, and an estate in Connecticut. Recently, he considered selling the Connecticut house to shore up his dwindling finances. He changed his mind and earned extra cash appearing at a wrestling pay-per-view event and accepting an acting job.
It wasn't until this past winter that he found trouble again with the law. Tyson was at a Georgetown restaurant in D.C. in the early morning when he reportedly got into an altercation with two women who claimed he verbally and physically abused them. A lawsuit is pending.
Playboy sent freelance writer Mark Kram, who has interviewed such heavyweights as Sonny Liston and Muhammad Ali, to check in with Tyson at this crossroads in his life and career. Kram reports:
"It took half a year to get Tyson to sit down and talk. His new management company in California kept saying that Mike was eager to get together, but he broke one engagement after another. The first interview took place in his Bethesda home. Present was his wife, Monica, a pleasant and charming woman who sat with us the entire time, remaining silent except to request that the name of a psychiatrist be expunged.
"We arranged to meet again three weeks later at the Trump International Hotel in Manhattan, just off Central Park. It wasn't a good day. I had to switch the tape recorder off whenever Tyson sulked, then we would talk quietly as I tried to bring him around. At one point he said, 'The interview is over,' yet he kept sitting there. I just let the silence surround him until he agreed to talk more.
"He was in a foul mood. He answered some questions in a crazed stream of consciousness. He kept slapping me on the thigh with his finger for emphasis. He frequently digressed from the subject without returning to it. Mike Tyson is the darkest figure in sports I've ever encountered. I left thinking that I had never before met a 32-year-old man so eaten up by rage, so hostile, despondent and absolutely convinced of his irredeemability."
[Q] Playboy: A lot of fans, foes and boxing commentators are asking the same question: Is it over for Tyson?
[A] Tyson: They said the same thing about Ali after his losses. No. It's not over. Not over at all.
[Q] Playboy: Still, particularly after Holy-field, some people say you've lost the crown for good. How do you respond?
[A] Tyson: Hit you upside your head, maybe. How's that?
[Q] Playboy: We understand you're upset. Has it been particularly difficult for you to have fallen so far--prison, the suspension from boxing--after being the champion?
[A] Tyson: I don't see myself as a superstar or icon. Other people might, but I don't. My record is not hype. It stands on its own. What do you want from me?
[Q] Playboy: We want to learn about you. Are you looking forward to getting in the ring again?
[A] Tyson: I don't give a fuck. The people don't give a fuck about me. There will be others after me.
[Q] Playboy: While waiting to be allowed to fight again, you refereed a pay-per-view wrestling event. Why?
[A] Tyson: It was cool.
[Q] Playboy: You didn't consider it to be undignified?
[A] Tyson: You remember Joe Louis?
[Q] Playboy: Louis refereed after his boxing career was over. But wrestling isn't boxing; it's phony.
[A] Tyson: The checks aren't phony.
[Q] Playboy: Aren't you worried about your image?
[A] Tyson: What image do I need to worry about? I've been in prison. I've been convicted of rape. I've had problems in and out of court. Are you kidding me? I do what I want. I'm not going to dance to nobody's tune.
[Q] Playboy: But after being the heavyweight champion of the world--
[A] Tyson: Which I deserved. What can I do? What I really want now is to hang out and deal with the problems in my life. Real life. Send the kids to school, go to PTA meetings and all that stuff. These are the things I'm trying to grasp now.
[Q] Playboy: How hard have you been training?
[A] Tyson: Me and a friend are just working out. Getting in shape. I've been cautious. I have tried to make better decisions. I consult my wife about everything. She was mad that I fought too soon after I got out of prison. I got out in March and fought in August.
[Q] Playboy: Do you agree with your wife--that you fought too soon after leaving prison?
[A] Tyson: I don't know.
[Q] Playboy: Was prison worse than you thought it would be?
[A] Tyson: It's something you get accustomed to. You can't wait to get home. I was just happy to make it through the day without being written up. Those were successful days. If you made it to the next day, the last count, boom! Another day you didn't get written up.
[Q] Playboy: Were you ever attacked in prison?
[A] Tyson: People will try you. They'll try the strongest. You have to be a man. They'll try anybody. They start by saying something funny, something sarcastic, to see how far they can go. But you nip it in the bud. You don't let anyone get away with saying anything funny or sarcastic. You have to demonstrate who you are right on the spot. That's what I do. That's who I am. I'm a settler. I'm in my glory in a place like that. Chaos all over. Yeah, they tried me a few times.
[Q] Playboy: Did anyone pull a knife on you?
[A] Tyson: They had them, but they didn't have anything I didn't have.
[Q] Playboy: Did you see instances of sexual assault?
[A] Tyson: All over the place. I didn't intervene. It wasn't my business. If I was getting fucked or raped, you think somebody would intervene? No. My job was to do my time, no one else's.
[Q] Playboy: You spent time in solitary confinement. Was it particularly difficult?
[A] Tyson: The hole was cool.
[Q] Playboy: You didn't mind the isolation?
[A] Tyson: No. The box was my savior.
[Q] Playboy: It's been speculated that you were driven sort of crazy in the hole--and that's why you bit off Holyfield's ear.
[A] Tyson: No. The hole could never drive you crazy. I like to be alone. That's who I am. I need to be into myself, in order to deal with the issues that are happening around me.
[Q] Playboy: Let's get back to the infamous night when you bit Holyfield. Why did you do it?
[A] Tyson: It was the second Holyfield fight. I was angry more than anything else. I snapped. I was an undisciplined soldier. I wanted to hurt him. I never thought about what I was doing.
[Q] Playboy: What were you angry about?
[A] Tyson: Just angry. Just mad. Just thinking about life and about the first fight, the people harassing me. I never take a fight personally.
[Q] Playboy: Were you thinking about the earlier loss against Holyfield?
[A] Tyson: I was angry. He was butting me with his head. I was hurt in the first and second rounds. No one believed me until they saw the film. I blacked out. Then the second fight: Whoa, I had that feeling again. And then it clicked. I saw him looking at my eyes, and I said, "This motherfucker." George Foreman said Holyfield is the dirtiest fighter he's ever seen. That first fight I didn't know what happened. I wasn't even feeling the punches. You couldn't see them, you could hear them, but I didn't feel them. I was numb. I was getting hit and didn't feel them and couldn't do anything. He did the head butting intentionally. He knows he did and the ref knows he did. He did it intentionally.
[Q] Playboy: Did you bite him out of anger or revenge?
[A] Tyson: I wanted to kill him, bite him. I was just enraged and angry.
[Q] Playboy: How did you feel afterward?
[A] Tyson: I felt all messed up afterward. I didn't feel too cool about it. But it was over and I had to deal with it. I was upset that I did it. I never allowed myself to be angry in a fight before that. Never. I know I might appear to be angry, but I was never angry before in a fight. So I was embarrassed. I was shocked, scared. I didn't want to do that to him. I'd rather have him beat me.
[Q] Playboy: How did you feel about Holyfield's reaction?
[A] Tyson: He's a fighter. He's no fool. He understands what happens in our business. It happens.
[Q] Playboy: How did the two Holyfield fights affect your place in boxing history? Where will you be ranked?
[A] Tyson: Not too high. I have so many enemies. They control all that stuff. You know people don't give a damn about that stuff. They try to discredit me as much as possible. Fuck 'em. I know I fucked up my chance to be in the Hall of Fame, to be the kind of guy I always dreamed of being, but fuck 'em, fuck 'em, fuck 'em. The critics may use the Holyfield fights to deny me. But Ali lost fights. I don't give a fuck. My life is doomed the way it is. I have no future. I just live my life.
[Q] Playboy: Doomed? Do you really feel that way?
[A] Tyson: Oh, I'm going to make a lot of money, win titles. Good things are going to happen, but my social standing? Zero. I really feel bad about my outlook, how I feel about people and society, and that I'll never be part of society the way I should. After all my ordeals, I look at myself and people totally different.
[Q] Playboy: Are you worried about the physical toll boxing has taken on you?
[A] Tyson: No one else really cares, so why should I care? You should go down to Brooklyn, or Brownsville, or South Central, or Compton, and talk to those kids. "What do you think about being hit? Getting shot? Getting hit in the head?" They'll tell you, "I'm not going to get hurt. I'm going to kill me some motherfuckers." That's how I think. No one's going to hurt me, but I'm going to hurt some people.
[Q] Playboy: Haven't you learned that you can be hurt?
[A] Tyson: I've got kids to feed, and a wife. You think I care about my risks? I don't think about my risks.
[Q] Playboy: Does your wife worry?
[A] Tyson: I have to do what I have to do, she has to do what she has to do. I'm sure she worries, but she knew the route she chose when she married me. She knew what I did for a living. She knew her life was going to be different when she married me.
[Q] Playboy: Do you think you will again be a great fighter? Have you lost the drive that made you great?
[A] Tyson: I've lost my desire for certain people in the fight business, but not my desire to fight.
[Q] Playboy: Who in the fight business have you lost your desire for?
[A] Tyson: People in Don King's posse. He is more visible than anybody else, but he's not the worst. He's not the worst, trust me.
[Q] Playboy: Trainers? Managers?
[A] Tyson: They're scum. They should stand on their mothers' shoulders and kiss my ass. They say I have no character. You don't accomplish what I've accomplished without character.
[Q] Playboy: How would you now describe your relationship with King?
[A] Tyson: Don King isn't the worst person who's fucked me. He probably fucked me more royally.
[Q] Playboy: How about Bill Cayton, who helped handle your career after Cus D'Amato died?
[A] Tyson: Listen, I have opinions about these guys, but I want to say it to their faces, not behind their backs. And I don't want any sympathy from anybody. All I get is more bombardment. Fuck 'em! I'm ready to fight anybody. Not physically, just whatever is necessary. I just want to fight someone. That's who I am. Fuck 'em! That's why I'm assertive and aggressive and take no shit. I'm ready to go any time.
[Q] Playboy: To the ring?
[A] Tyson: Wherever. Hell. Heaven.
[Q] Playboy: Has it been hell?
[A] Tyson: Yeah, because they're faggots, bitches, wimps, weak, and they're not the man I am. Can't they live their lives? What fucking lives do they have? They don't know who the fuck they are. They'd give anything in the world to be me. They would be like me if they had the fucking nerve.
[Q] Playboy: Do you believe Don King ruined you?
[A] Tyson: Who knows if he ruined me. Please. I'm going to be champ again. Are you kidding?
[Q] Playboy: Do you blame King for much of what you've been through?
[A] Tyson: I'm my own person. Mike does what Mike wants to do. That's why I sometimes get in trouble, because I just want to do what I want to do. I don't trust people enough to take most of their advice.
[Q] Playboy: Do you trust anyone?
[A] Tyson: My best friends, my family--anyone else, to hell with them.
[Q] Playboy: Did you trust King?
[A] Tyson: Let's move on.
[Q] Playboy: What type of contract did you have with King?
[A] Tyson: I'm sorry. I can't tell you.
[Q] Playboy: You've been harshly criticized by your former trainer Teddy Atlas. What do you think of him?
[A] Tyson: I love him anyway.
[Q] Playboy: Even though Atlas is critical of you?
[A] Tyson: You know why? Because he wishes he was with me. If he's such a great trainer, why didn't he make someone else like me? None of his fighters ever beat me. Why didn't he put any of his fighters in there with me? He had Michael Moorer. Let me tell you something. These guys don't like me because they wish they were with me. I don't care how many fights their guys win, they ain't Mike Tyson.
[Q] Playboy: Atlas is the one who says you have no character.
[A] Tyson: I did three years in prison, I was denied workouts, training, doing anything, and came back and still won a title. That's no character? Am I not one of the rare flowers that blossom in adversity? And I don't have no character? I bet if I was with him he'd say how great I am, because I'm one of the greatest fighters that ever lived. What is he going to say about me when I'm dead? All of them will say, "He fucked it up, but he was the greatest." Listen, you can't find Atlas' name in the paper unless he's talking about me. You can't find any of those guys in the paper. The only thing he's got to contribute to what he does in life is to talk about me, someone who redesigned boxing.
[Q] Playboy: How did you redesign boxing?
[A] Tyson: I took it back to its raw form. Kill or be killed. The winner gets it all. That's what people want. I gave everybody what they want. And they paid me for it. People are afraid I'm going to unmask them for what they are. Hypocrites. What do I do to offend people? I go to a restaurant and get into a skirmish with someone, and 30 people write petitions that say I was justified in what I did. Yet I'm the bad guy.
[Q] Playboy: Were you frustrated when you were barred from boxing?
[A] Tyson: People discourage me. I'm engulfed by a whole bunch of emotional stuff right now.
[Q] Playboy: Such as?
[A] Tyson: Just a lot of personal endeavors, nothing I can't handle.
[Q] Playboy: Legal matters?
[A] Tyson: That and other matters.
[Q] Playboy: Is it distracting?
[A] Tyson: I'm working my way out of it.
[Q] Playboy: How do you respond to the critics who say you were overrated from the beginning?
[A] Tyson: That's their opinion. The quickest way to fail is to try to please everyone. Make everyone happy. I can't do that. I accomplished a lot as a fighter at a young age. I plan to accomplish more. I just got to be happy. All about me as a fighter is being happy.
[Q] Playboy: Are you plagued by self-doubt?
[A] Tyson: I don't know if it plagues me. What produces the self-doubt is boredom and idleness, when you're alone, when you're with your thoughts. In the midst of action I never have self-doubt.
[Q] Playboy: It has been written that you suffer from depression. Do you?
[A] Tyson: Sometimes. That's the way I've been all my life.
[Q] Playboy: Has your behavior ever been diagnosed as manic-depressive?
[A] Tyson: I don't think I'm manic, just depressed sometimes.
[Q] Playboy: Do you take medicine?
[A] Tyson: I don't take medicine. Probably one day in the future.
[Q] Playboy: Have you been in therapy?
[A] Tyson: I talk to a doctor now.
[Q] Playboy: Does it help?
[A] Tyson: Yeah, it helps. I'm a little apprehensive about expressing my thoughts to a middle-aged Jewish man. But I like him. I had such a need to do it.
[Q] Playboy: When did you go into therapy?
[A] Tyson: I've been in therapy for a while, since I left prison. I had one guy that was a quack. What a problem. He was seeing dollar signs. He wanted to be a member of my boxing team more than he wanted to be my therapist.
[Q] Playboy: How often do you see your therapist?
[A] Tyson: It's nobody's business how often I go.
[Q] Playboy: What do you take away from it?
[A] Tyson: I get shit off my chest, whatever it may be. It feels a lot better than just exploding.
[Q] Playboy: A lot better?
[A] Tyson: Yeah. Listen, I don't know if I need therapy or if I want therapy. I know I have to go to therapy. It's cool. When people think of Mike Tyson in therapy, they think of the extreme psycho, the walking time bomb. I say to those people, "You don't know me. Fuck you! You can't define me. I know who I am and what I am." They have no idea who I am or what I am. They just go by what they see in the paper, what people say. What I am you can't see in statistics. Because you have to look inside my soul. They don't care. They don't really care enough about me as a person to see who I am and what I am.
[Q] Playboy: What would you like people to see?
[A] Tyson: I'm not looking for someone to tell me that I'm great. I'm just living my life the way I want to. I'm not hurting anybody.
[Q] Playboy: Many people can't get past the Desiree Washington rape trial when they think of you.
[A] Tyson: The fact is, nobody gives a fuck about Mike Tyson. It's easy to hate Mike Tyson, to do something to Mike Tyson and get away with it. Mike Tyson is just that kind of person. Even if he didn't do it, he's capable of it, right? People don't get arrested and convicted because of what they actually do. They get arrested for what they're capable of doing.
[Q] Playboy: What's your version of what happened?
[A] Tyson: She comes to my room, and takes off her panty shield, ready to fuck. I fuck her, suck her on her ass, suck all over her. I perform fellatio [sic] on her. Then you're going to tell me [whispering] I took some ass? I'm holding you down, sucking your ass? I don't care if you believe it or not. Look at the common sense behind it. Now, of course, I'm a scumbag. I'm used to being that. But the fact that I took somebody's ass, that's a real riot.
[Q] Playboy: So you claim there was never a rape.
[A] Tyson: A lot of young women don't know what they're getting themselves into. Then they find, Hey, I'm above my head in this shit. A lot of them think it's fun, a game, and they don't understand what they're getting into when they're with men. All they know is what they read. But they truly don't know what they're into when they lock themselves in a room and engage in sex with a man who knows how to handle a woman.
[Q] Playboy: And Washington?
[A] Tyson: I don't know. I think she's mean and vindictive. She had it planned from the beginning. That's what I think.
[Q] Playboy: What are your feelings about women in general? How do you feel about NOW protesting your reinstatement based on the rape conviction?
[A] Tyson: I don't give a fuck about them. I've never done anything to those people. If I gave them some money, they'd say, "He should be reinstated, he's a great guy." Don't tell me about no fucking women's lib. How can a bunch of pussy whipped men let their women parade around in a crusade saying, "All men are pigs. Us against them." Fuck you! I've done nothing to them. I've had problems with particular women who they might not like either if they knew them. Tell them I said fuck you. What about me? I got three daughters. What are they saying? That I'm fucked up, so my daughters are fucked up, too? That I don't care about women? That I'm going to abuse my daughters? I'm just a scoundrel? If I see a woman in a vulnerable situation, I'm going to take advantage of it, right? Is that what they're saying? Fuck you again. You don't know me. I've done nothing to no one. Just because I got accused of it, it all looks my way. Ask any woman on the street, an experienced woman, about my situation, what she's read, what she's seen, she can't understand it. How can you understand that?
[Q] Playboy: Do you expect other people to believe you're innocent?
[A] Tyson: I expect the worst to happen to me in my life. I expect people to fuck me and treat me bad. That's just what I expect. I fight it. I try to do something about it. I'm not going to let anybody walk over me. I expect that one day somebody, probably black, will blow my fucking brains out over some fucking bullshit, that his fucking wife or girlfriend might like me, and I don't even know she exists. Some bullshit will happen. I expect that to happen in my life. No one gives a fuck about Mike Tyson. If someone accuses Mike Tyson of a horrible crime, they say, "Yeah, he's capable of that, Mike probably did it." Nobody's fighting a crusade for my black ass.
[Q] Playboy: Were you surprised by the trial and your sentence?
[A] Tyson: What can I say? They fucked me. I been fucked most of my life. What the fuck can I do? I paid the money. Big fucking deal! What the fuck can you do if it happens to you? Am I the only person? What the fuck can I do?
[Q] Playboy: You're obviously very angry.
[A] Tyson: Please, sir, I'm not personally mad at you. That's just the way I talk. I put my life in someone else's hands, what can I do? I don't know anything about law. So they put a grim reality on my life. But I was born in a den of iniquity. I was born in guck, mud. Humiliation. I used to be tortured, brutalized. Any bit of hope was destroyed. That's where I come from. A guy may get on the honor roll. Fuck him! He's a fucking mark! He's a sucker. If he ain't out there getting money at age 12, he doesn't have a couple thousand in his pocket, not wearing the finest clothes of the day, well fuck him! Fuck him! I don't give a fuck if he dies! That's where we come from. Every now and then you run into some good people who ain't gonna let somebody kill some white boys who are asking for directions and are grabbed, pulled out of the car, robbed and beaten. Some good people come out, get on these motherfuckers' asses and say, "Motherfuckers, these are people! You let these people go their way." Then again, there are people who say, "Kill 'em. Kill them white motherfuckers. Kill 'em. I hope they fucking die! They kill and beat us every day." You see, these people are hurt and bitter in their hearts. But they're good people. Their pain and bitterness overfuckingwhelms them. Then when it's over they feel bad because somebody was hurt. The first thing they see is that we were killed like animals, like in Canarsie in the late Seventies. We had no rights. Motherfuckers kill us, get only five, maybe ten years.
[Q] Playboy: You said you were born in a den of iniquity. Is that how you characterize your childhood in Brownsville?
[A] Tyson: We all have hard lives. It's the way the wind blows. You go into the heart of Brownsville, looks like World War Two hit it. The buildings aren't stable. Here, they'd put up a new one. In Brownsville they leave it, then it falls and kills people. Who gives a fuck? No one gives a fuck.
[Q] Playboy: What was it like at home?
[A] Tyson: Apartment. Very small. Four, five people sometimes, sometimes more. Other people would stay over till they got situated. It was hard. Paying the bills: water bills, light bills. Light goes off, heat goes off, water goes off. Have to pay somebody to go down there to handle the mechanics.
[Q] Playboy: Was there always food on the table?
[A] Tyson: We got home so tired we didn't care if we ate or not. They had a free lunch program at school and we'd stand in line for it: sandwich, an orange, banana or pear, and juice and milk.
[Q] Playboy: What do you remember about your father?
[A] Tyson: He always had Cadillacs. Who knows what he was doing back then. He was a gambler probably. Always a hip guy. Everybody knew him and talked about him. No responsibility. He was just a cool guy. All the women loved him.
[Q] Playboy: Some reports claim that he was a pimp.
[A] Tyson: I don't know what he did. He was very handy with women. Back in 1991, 1992, me and him started talking to one another.
[Q] Playboy: What did you talk about?
[A] Tyson: He was always trying to explain what happened between him and my mother, but I wasn't interested. By that time I'd been through a relationship and had children and realized that people just don't get along sometimes. And sometimes kids suffer. It just happens. I always loved my father. I never held anything against him.
[Q] Playboy: What did your mother think of your father?
[A] Tyson: Never said much about him, because she knew I loved my dad. He died when I was in prison.
[Q] Playboy: Your mother raised you and your brother and sister, right?
[A] Tyson: Yeah.
[Q] Playboy: Did you miss having your father around?
[A] Tyson: All the time. A woman can't teach a man how to be a man. You need a man to do that.
[Q] Playboy: Is that partly why you got in trouble as a youth?
[A] Tyson: It's rare in that neighborhood to see a guy who gets straight A's in school, who goes to school every day. Instead, you see a guy like me--in trouble all his life. Everybody says, "He'll be in prison for the rest of his life."
[Q] Playboy: You obliged them.
[A] Tyson: Yeah, but I didn't turn out the way they thought. They didn't think I'd make it to 16.
[Q] Playboy: At what age were you more or less on your own on the street?
[A] Tyson: About ten.
[Q] Playboy: You have a high voice. Did kids make fun of you?
[A] Tyson: The objective of man is to be tough. If anyone insults you, you got to fight. That's just the law of the street. Some people would make fun of me. I'd fight 'em.
[Q] Playboy: Were you in many fights?
[A] Tyson: Many. If somebody gets beat up real bad they don't want to use the system anymore. They get their knife, their gun, they want to fight. They want to hurt somebody. We have the animal instinct to survive. I got hit with bats, sticks, bottles across my face.
[Q] Playboy: You've said that you are sometimes depressed. Were you depressed as a child?
[A] Tyson: I don't remember. It wasn't depression back then. You know, you're poor, you don't have good doctors. You have poor doctors who say, "He's hyperactive" or "He's a special ed student. We'll put him somewhere else so he won't disrupt the other students."
[Q] Playboy: Were you ever labeled violent or antisocial?
[A] Tyson: Not really.
[Q] Playboy: You were once described as borderline retarded, a term that is no longer used. Did the labeling affect you?
[A] Tyson: I appeared to be retarded. I never thought I was, though.
[Q] Playboy: When you look at yourself then, is it the same person you see now, only younger?
[A] Tyson: Two different people. They wouldn't even hang out together. They'd never like each other, just feel contempt for each other.
[Q] Playboy: Were you on welfare as a child?
[A] Tyson: Yeah. And I hated it. It's humiliating, embarrassing.
[Q] Playboy: Did you do lots of drugs?
[A] Tyson: I did a lot when I was a kid. But it wasn't my thing. I never got hooked. If you get hooked on drugs, you must not have a thing to do in your life. You know how boring drugs are? Being high all the time? You know how fucking boring that is? I want motherfucking action. I need action.
[Q] Playboy: You raise pigeons. What do they mean to you?
[A] Tyson: It's something I've done all my life. Something like racing horses or gambling. Just something I do.
[Q] Playboy: Weren't you once nearly hanged for stealing pigeons? The story goes that a noose was around your neck and you were going to be dropped off a building, but someone saved you.
[A] Tyson: When I was younger that's what people did. What does that have to do with this interview?
[Q] Playboy: It's your life.
[A] Tyson: I don't like to talk about that.
[Q] Playboy: You don't like to talk about your childhood?
[A] Tyson: Every time you talk about Brownsville it sounds negative. It was happy, too. Nothing big, just going to the pool. Gambling without anybody getting killed or robbed over a dice game. Laughing. Cooking food outside and music. That was fun. May not be fun to you. It was fun to us.
[Q] Playboy: Is it true you went back to Brownsville after you were a successful fighter, put on a ski mask and begged for coins on the street?
[A] Tyson: I've done quite a few things in my life. Most of them I'm not proud of, some just happened.
[Q] Playboy: You wound up at Tryon, a reformatory, when you were 13. What was it like?
[A] Tyson: Just a bunch of bad kids no one cared about in a square box.
[Q] Playboy: Do you remember those as terrible times?
[A] Tyson: The best and worst times.
[Q] Playboy: Is that where Cus D'Amato found you?
[A] Tyson: He didn't find me. Someone, an ex-boxer, introduced me to him. Cus taught me how to fight. You have to understand: When I went there I had a bad reputation. I did some things I wasn't proud of when I was a kid. I was young, like 11. I was big and strong and all I had at the time was my power. If there was any kind of altercation at Tryon, there was no, like, "Let's talk about it." When you start your life out bad, it perpetuates so much you just can't be any worse. So they shipped me to this other institution, where you are basically locked up most of the time. And that's where I learned to box. I wanted to be the best; I wanted to be somebody.
[Q] Playboy: Was D'Amato an important teacher?
[A] Tyson: Basically, he knew I was a raw kid and he tried to cultivate me. Do the right thing, say the right thing. That's not who I am. My biggest problem in life is that I never learned to play the game. There are people who want to live in the sunshine 24 hours a day every day of the week, but that's not realistic. You have to deal with some rain. You have to suffer to know what the sun's going to feel like.
[Q] Playboy: D'Amato took you to Jimmy Jacobs. Is that how you wound up in your first professional fight?
[A] Tyson: Somebody saw me train and he told Jimmy about me. That was a good man, Jimmy Jacobs.
[Q] Playboy: Did you--
[A] Tyson: I don't understand. I'm no fucking animal. Don't interview me like I'm some maniac that might explode at any minute. I think you've got the wrong impression.
[Q] Playboy: What makes you think we've got the wrong impression?
[A] Tyson: Maybe it's me, because I'm real bitter and defensive. Maybe it's not you at all. I'm just always ready to attack. I know how pervasive the idea of me is out there. Please, sir, don't take it personally. I'm a very hateful motherfucker right now, a hateful individual. I'm really pissed off at the world. [Pause] I'm always trying to be cool, take care of my children, not kill nobody, not say anything anymore. I always do my best to be cool. I know I'm going to blow one day.
[Q] Playboy: Blow in what way?
[A] Tyson: I know I'm going to blow one day. But I'm going to make sure that when I blow, my kids are fine. There's not much more of this shit I can take. I'm going to blow one day. I try very hard, I'm doing a very good job, sir. I'm doing a very good job. I'm just really angry these days. Really, really angry. This whole year has been a total retrospect of my life.
[Q] Playboy: How much did prison contribute to these feelings?
[A] Tyson: Fuck everybody. Fuck going back to prison.
[Q] Playboy: Is this interview upsetting you?
[A] Tyson: I'm just living my life. I have kids who are going to be great artists, big stars one day. I'm producing them on my label, Mike Tyson Records. That's an awesome project. But I want to fight. That's what I was born to do. I get carried away sometimes. I get mad, I lose fucking fights now and then. I'm just a nut like that. But that is truly what I do.
[Q] Playboy: Is your mood getting worse these days?
[A] Tyson: It gets worse and worse. When I'm by myself, I'm deep in retrospection. When I'm with my wife, she's so bright, she keeps me up, keeps me from thinking. I don't have time to think about getting angry. Like right now, I'm calming. We're sitting here in the park. This is incredible. No one's coming by. I like looking at people. You know what I like looking at more than anything? Young kids in love. Of course, I never want to see my daughter hugging and kissing a guy in public. But if I was objective, I'd say it was a great scene. I never had that when I was young. I was never involved with girls. See those two young kids, holding hands? They don't know anything about love, but there's still that feeling. I just like to watch it because it's innocent.
[Q] Playboy: Did you feel that way with Robin Givens?
[A] Tyson: I could have. I don't know. I may have felt that way.
[Q] Playboy: Do you ever think about that marriage?
[A] Tyson: I wonder how she's doing, is she OK. I have no wish to meet her. But I know how it feels to get fucked over, and I don't want anybody feeling like that. Listen, I wasn't the best husband in the world. I'm no fucking angel. I was a boy then, 20 years old, when you have two young kids who shouldn't be married in the first place. The whole world's looking at you. Every time something happens in your life it's on the front page or the television. You're a young boy--and you think you can handle that?
[Q] Playboy: Are you tough to live with?
[A] Tyson: Oh, yeah. I don't see how my wife does it. I'm a difficult person to live with.
[Q] Playboy: Do you get any easier to live with as you get older?
[A] Tyson: It gets more intense. I have no one to blame but myself. Even though many people contribute to it, I have to carry the weight of the fool alone.
[Q] Playboy: Has your fame made it harder or easier?
[A] Tyson: I don't know anything about fucking fame.
[Q] Playboy: How about money?
[A] Tyson: Money's just a false sense of security. Money's just to help your family and loved ones. I don't trip about no fucking money.
[Q] Playboy: Is it true that you used to slip diamonds under Robin Givens' pillow?
[A] Tyson: I don't know. I'm capable of doing that shit.
[Q] Playboy: We read that you bought her a Porsche when you went out for a bottle of milk.
[A] Tyson: Yeah, when somebody's with me, they're with me. I want to make them feel complete. When I'm not around, I want them to feel OK. My wife, you see, wants to understand boxing, but I don't want her to get infected by that bug. See, she doesn't need to get involved in my life, because that's not cool. She doesn't need to be infected by the people I associate with. I attract scumbags. They may be sophisticated, good at what they do, but they're still scumbags, because there's big money involved. They want that money and will do anything to get it. I don't care how they may appear.
[Q] Playboy: How interested in politics are you?
[A] Tyson: All black people are into politics whether they like it or not. People in control say, "We're going to give them welfare. Take away welfare. How hard are we going to work these blacks? How much will they take?" They know how much we'll take, how many people they can kill before we retaliate. Nothing changes. They kill us. Abuse us. And we burn our neighborhoods down! Show our rage by taking it out on one another. Why are we killing each other? Because we're mad at what you did to us. We burn down the store that gives us credit. Now we can't get credit from nobody. Guy gives us credit for ten, 15 years. Now we got nothing. We're deeper in the hole. I don't like Newt Gingrich. I think he's a racist and an intellectual bigot. But as a man I respect him. I guess I'm more a socialist than anything else. I'm not about taking from anybody, or giving to anybody who doesn't deserve it. To be sincere and honest, welfare is worse than crack can ever be. Welfare had a worse effect on us than dope ever did. It made us dependent. You want to see a rebellion? Take away welfare, tell people they have to work. You know how easy it is to get a freebie? You don't have to do anything but lie on your fat fucking ass and have children, just get screwed by different men. That's how you lose your moral and ethic and work values. That's what it does to you.
[Q] Playboy: Black athletes can play an important role in the lives of black kids in the ghetto--by showing those kids a way out. Did you ever feel you had that responsibility?
[A] Tyson: Black athletes make a lot of money, but we don't know what to do with it. I don't care how many congressmen, how many bankers, lawyers, astronauts or great fighters we've become. We never broke the cycle, because we detest what we are. We're not smart.
[Q] Playboy: Do you include such great athletes as Michael Jordan and--
[A] Tyson: Why can't Michael Jordan do something about having some black ownership in the NBA? Why does David Stern have to own everything? Why are there no black owners?
[Q] Playboy: Stern is the commissioner, not the owner of an NBA team.
[A] Tyson: But David Stern is the boss. He's so despotic and so supreme. He appears as though he is the boss of the entire league. People turn to ice cubes if he's angry at them.
[Q] Playboy: Why do you think there's no black ownership?
[A] Tyson: Because there's not enough protest for it.
[Q] Playboy: Has Dennis Rodman helped or hurt basketball?
[A] Tyson: I like Dennis, he's OK. I met him a couple times. I never thought of him as a fag or freak or nothing like that. He's cool.
[Q] Playboy: Does it bother you that he separates himself from the team, doesn't show up for practices, doesn't sit on the bench and walks out on games?
[A] Tyson: Does that interfere with him getting 15 rebounds? He's doing his job. As long as it doesn't interfere with him doing his job, cool.
[Q] Playboy: What did you think when he posed in a wedding dress?
[A] Tyson: That was cool too. He wasn't hurting anybody.
[Q] Playboy: Do you like his hair?
[A] Tyson: He's not bothering anybody.
[Q] Playboy: For all his bad press, Rodman seems to have a sense of humor and seems to be enjoying his success. Throughout this interview, you have sounded down, even self-destructive. Are you?
[A] Tyson: Nothing's going to happen to Mike Tyson. People want it to happen. They want me to rot away, to say, "He was great, but he rotted away." People love to see that. What did Scott Fitzgerald say? Show me a hero and I'll show you a tragedy? People want tragic stories. Because they are jealous. Like when people talk about Princess Di. And Jackie Onassis. They're jealous. It kills their fucking hearts. People hate the fact that these people are considered perfect. They want to prove otherwise. Perfection's not granted to me. Fuckers like you will make sure I'm far from perfect. Reporters, that is. Nothing personal, sir.
[Q] Playboy: OK. Let's talk about boxing. Do you agree that the sport is in trouble, particularly the heavyweight division?
[A] Tyson: I can't help it if the game's in bad shape. The people pick somebody; they can make a superstar of anyone. Then once they make someone a star, they don't like him no more. They think he's too big for his britches. The reason I am who I am is because of you. It's not all about being the best fighter and beating everybody; it's about being the people's choice and the people's champion. The belt symbolizes what you are, but the people define what you are.
[Q] Playboy: Obviously the people gravitated toward you when you began.
[A] Tyson: Like I said, I've never seen myself as a superstar or a major star. It's other people who say it.
[Q] Playboy: Who are your favorite boxers from the past?
[A] Tyson: I like Joe Louis, Joe Frazier, Rocky Marciano, I love them all. They all have something. I love Sonny Liston! Liston's orgasmic. Oh man. It's incredible to watch him, to watch him train. Listen, I'm an ultra, ultra, ultra heterosexual man. But Liston is orgasmic. He's somebody who physically destroys you. Oh man. Liston is just a monster to watch. Ali is better, but the performance is not like watching Sonny Liston. I would love to watch Liston rip a man apart, then watch Ali subdue and humiliate him. Sonny Liston ripped your soul apart.
[Q] Playboy: Didn't you once visit Liston's grave and place flowers there?
[A] Tyson: Yeah, I did that. I put flowers on Joe Louis' grave, on old Joe Gans' grave in Baltimore. That's an old slave cemetery there. Got on my knees, cleaned the gravesite up. Over 100 years old, that site. Used Ajax. Cleaned the whole thing up. He had a lion headstone. I put orchids on Sonny's grave. When you look at Sonny, you know he was a tough motherfucker. You know he was a man. I don't know if the Mob had him, but if he worked for the Mob, you can bet your ass he got paid. Because he was Liston. I know him just as a fighter. He had a great jab, put your teeth in back of your head. You know Al Capone was a fighter too, right? A heavyweight, had about six knockouts. Those gangsters had balls of steel.
[Q] Playboy: What do your diehard fans, the ones who are still with you, see in you?
[A] Tyson: Rebelliousness. I don't really believe I'm a rebellious individual, but that's what they see.
[Q] Playboy: You're not rebellious?
[A] Tyson: I just express myself. Maybe it seems I'm rebellious.
[Q] Playboy: Are you misunderstood?
[A] Tyson: Yeah. But the truth is, I'm pretty simple. People think I'm some big, glamorous star, that I walk into clubs and leave with five girls at my side. No. I'm just a normal guy. I'm not a superstar, no mega-star. Not the icon like they think. On one hand they hold me up as some superstar. On the other, they think I'm barely civilized. But I am. They expect me to be a wild man, uncontrollable. I'm sure you were warned before you came to talk to me: "Be careful when you go over there, he might flip or something." They want you to believe that. I know who I am. I'm not a villain. I don't take much shit from people and probably I'm quick to curse somebody and be belligerent on television or in public. So that perception is out there. But it's not that I'm not good. I may misbehave, but I'm good. I have good intentions. The fact is, people don't like me. But if you're telling me, "Mike, you're a crazy motherfucker, you're an animal," I'll crack you in your fucking face.
[Q] Playboy: Is that how you're taking these questions?
[A] Tyson: I'm not pointing directly to you, I'm just saying people in general. They could say this or write that, but they will never say it to my face. The press enjoys my misfortunes.
[Q] Playboy: You said you're not a villain.
[A] Tyson: I'm a different kind of villain, if you're going to call me a villain. I'm just like John L. Sullivan. He was a villain, but he was a villainous hero. People associate villains with bad guys. But a guy like Sullivan is a villain and doesn't like anybody--the good guys or the bad guys. Would you believe that Rocky Marciano wasn't a popular champion when he was fighting? People thought he was a fake, that he fought bums. But when he died they made him a superhero.
[Q] Playboy: After all this, do you blame the press?
[A] Tyson: I don't care what they do as long as they respect me. The only people I want to love me are my wife and my family.
[Q] Playboy: Do they respect you?
[A] Tyson: They have to. I demand that. I demand that. Do you see any other reporters around? You're here because you've done nothing wrong, and you've done nothing to disrespect me. Do you see [New York Post columnist] Wally Matthews in my house? He better not come close to my house.
[Q] Playboy: Do you have a personal problem with him? He has written some tough things about you.
[A] Tyson: I don't have a problem with nobody personally. Unless they violate me personally.
[Q] Playboy: You mean physically?
[A] Tyson: That too. I haven't killed nobody. I haven't done anything to nobody. They treat me so bad that they make me feel horrible sometimes. I know who I am. I don't have to define who Mike Tyson is. I'm a father. I'm a brother, I'm a son, I'm many things. I've been many things. I've been a convict. I've been a street hustler. So what is it that they think I am?
[Q] Playboy: You didn't mention the label "rapist." That still brands you.
[A] Tyson: Yeah. People really hate me because of where I come from. Also, they see me in my cars and feel I'm rich. And I'm a fairly decent-looking guy, I'm all right. I have a beautiful wife. Smart wife, a doctor. That irritates people. I can't help it if she's a doctor and I love her and she loves me. I mean, everybody strives for something in life. You know what I mean? Everybody strives to better themselves in life. People hate me because I want to better myself.
[Q] Playboy: Ali was famous for an enormous entourage that traveled with him. You seem to have fewer people around than you used to.
[A] Tyson: I don't have as much money as I used to. I'm not in the mix, maybe that's the word. I'm not in the spotlight as much anymore. Matthews called me a "rapist recluse." I'm not a recluse. My fans see me. They see I'm in the community. They see me in stores, they see me around. I hang out with my family.
[Q] Playboy: Do you still hang out in clubs?
[A] Tyson: No, no. I have a small record label. And to really get in the mix you should go to clubs, but I don't go.
[Q] Playboy: You've been involved in the rap music scene for some time. Apparently you were good friends with Tupac Shakur. What do you remember most about him?
[A] Tyson: Misplaced loyalty. He was around people who were into drugs, but that wasn't who he was. He was a good person. He got a lot of bad rap--I've never seen a good rapper with a good image. They're good guys, though.
[Q] Playboy: Did you and Tupac have serious talks?
[A] Tyson: Yeah, we spoke. I was older than him and I was always telling him to be cool, be mellow. I'm thinking I'm trying to be the cool guy, trying to chill him out. But in reality, I never listened to what the man had to say.
[Q] Playboy: What exactly were you trying to tell him?
[A] Tyson: Just about being a man. We talked about people hurting him, not treating him good. He couldn't understand why, when he was doing bad, somebody couldn't help him.
[Q] Playboy: Did Shakur seem violent?
[A] Tyson: I don't know nothing about that. He shot somebody. He got shot too. So I don't know if he's violent or if it was self-defense. Who knows?
[Q] Playboy: Who are the artists on Mike Tyson Records?
[A] Tyson: I have Protege from Baltimore, R&B. We're in negotiations for a woman named Donnie, a sensational singer. I have a singer named Turane Howard who is going to be splendid. I have a rap group.
[Q] Playboy: Is your record label designed to provide an income when you no longer fight?
[A] Tyson: It's fun. I just want to take some kids and help them, make them singing sensations. It's hard work, but it's got to be done.
[Q] Playboy: What else interests you?
[A] Tyson: I just want to get more associated with my family. My wife is going to open a little clinic. I got a couple of houses.
[Q] Playboy: In Las Vegas. Ohio. Bethesda. It's been reported that your house in Connecticut is worth $22 million. If you needed the money, would you sell it?
[A] Tyson: I don't think so. I'm going to give it to my kids. I was there the other day and I was thinking, God, maybe I should give this house to my kids. They've all stayed there with their friends. My first two are eight and nine now, and ten years from now they'll be in college somewhere and they'll probably stay at that house during the summer.
[Q] Playboy: Do you worry about losing the house and the rest of what you have?
[A] Tyson: The press writes that I'm broke, and it's their best day ever. The reality is, I'm not going to be broke in my life. I'm Mike Tyson. How long you think it would take me to make $100 million?
[Q] Playboy: So it's other things that worry you.
[A] Tyson: My life.
[Q] Playboy: Have you ever been suicidal?
[A] Tyson: No.
[Q] Playboy: What about the car accidents, the motorcycle accidents?
[A] Tyson: You think I'm going to kill myself on a motorcycle? If I wanted to kill myself, I'd take a motorcycle at 160 miles an hour and run into a Mack truck. I don't want to die.
[Q] Playboy: You could have died in one of those accidents.
[A] Tyson: At 20 miles an hour? If I had wanted to kill myself, I would have killed myself ten minutes before, when I was doing 130 miles an hour.
[Q] Playboy: Were you ever badly hurt in an accident?
[A] Tyson: I hurt my leg and my ribs. A rib cracked and punctured my lung.
[Q] Playboy: You once drove your Rolls-Royce into a tree.
[A] Tyson: See, the road was gravelly, and the car spun out. And I hit the tree. I lost control and hit the tree. If I wanted to kill myself, trust me, there's easier ways to do it. Especially in the rural Catskills, in New York. If I wanted to do it, I would go in the woods and do it and never be found. Some of those places have probably never been explored. But you don't read about me killing myself or doing something bizarre like that.
[Q] Playboy: We'll never read that?
[A] Tyson: You'll never read that, because it's not my fault I'm this way. Write a letter to God. "God, why did you bring this black convict into the world? Why did you do that, God?" He's the reason I am what I am. Blame the big boy. Blame God.
[Q] Playboy: We read that a hawk once killed 98 of your pigeons. How did you feel?
[A] Tyson: You can't imagine what was in my head, what I was going to do to that hawk. I waited for him a long, long time. Finally I trapped him. I had him, right there in the trap, but I just stared at him. He was huge and powerful and intimidating and ominous-looking. I didn't have enough nerve to do anything. I couldn't kill him. I opened the gate, let him out, watched him fly away.
Don't tell me about no fucking women's lib. How can a bunch of pussy whipped men let their women parade around saying, "All men are pigs. Us against them."
I never got hooked on drugs. If you get hooked on drugs, you must not have a thing to do in your life. You know how boring drugs are? I need action.
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