Watch CBS News

Mike Tyson talks Broadway show Twitter threats

(CBS News) In response to threats on Twitter directed at his one-man Broadway show, former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson said he wasn't concerned about himself, but for his audience.

"When somebody told me about that, I thought nobody is going to hurt me," Tyson said Thursday on "CBS This Morning." "I'm a different kind of celebrity. I'm out in the open, I'm accessible. Anybody could kill me. I don't have no bodyguards. My best friend and me have a bunch of muscles, but he's not my bodyguard.

"The only thing I'm worried about is the safety of the people in the audience. They're coming to be entertained. And something drastic like that happened, I wouldn't want to have that."

Twitter gives NYPD info on account behind threats to Mike Tyson show on Broadway

The NYPD boosted security outside the Longacre Theater on Broadway after the profanity-laden threats of mass murder were made on Twitter, starting late last week.

Police say the threats appeared aimed at the audience attending Tyson's show, "Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth."

Among the tweets: "i'm serious, people are gonna die like aurora."

Also: "gosh i'm still making this hit list damn i wanna kill a lot of people."

In the one-man Broadway show directed by Spike Lee, Tyson gives his version of events of the highs and lows of his well documented life. He never thought it would be possible to be on a Broadway stage, but said he was inspired by another one-man show.

"Once, me and my wife witnessed Chazz Palminteri do "A Bronx Tale" on the stage," Tyson said. "And I said wow. I want to do that, 'cause I could do that."

Tyson, the youngest heavyweight champion ever, said he doesn't have fight in him still for boxing.

"In order for a guy like myself, Mike Tyson, to be successful in a field like that. I can't be Mike Tyson from Brooklyn," Tyson said. "I have to be a savage, an animal. And being that person doesn't transcend into the free world pretty, you know, easily."

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.