mike tyson face tattoo lawsuitmike tyson face tattoo now In 2003, Mike Tyson’s boxing career was coming to an end. When he stepped into the ring against Clifford Ettienne, however, something was different. While Iron Mike was able to dispatch his opponent without breaking a sweat, he was sporting a new tattoo on his face.
On the left side of Tyson’s torso is a tattoo of another communist leader, this one being the great Che Guevara. The tattoo is a copy of the famous Guerrillero Heroico photograph taken by Alberto Korda on March 5, 1960. It’s quite a large tattoo that takes up a lot of space on the left side of Tyson’s body.
In 2014, though, Tyson finally fessed up about the real reason for his tattoo. As Sportcasting recounts, Tyson said of his dark period, "I just hated myself... I literally wanted to deface myself." Capricious though it was, the tattoo was also his first step toward making positive choices.
When Tyson got the face tattoo, he agreed in writing that all drawings, artwork, and photographs of it belonged to Whitmill's Paradox-Studio of Dermagraphics, an uncommon step in the tattoo industry. In The Hangover's 2011 sequel, The Hangover Part II, the character Stu Price (played by Ed Helms) gets a face tattoo almost identical to Tyson's. After seeing a poster depicting the tattooed Stu, Whitmill registered a copyright for the tattoo and then on April 28, 2011 filed Whitmill v. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., seeking to enjoin The Hangover's distributor, Warner Bros., from using the tattoo in the movie or its promotional materials. Describing the face tattoo as "one of the most distinctive tattoos in the nation", Whitmill did not challenge "Tyson's right to use or control his identity" but challenged Warner Bros.' use of the design itself, without having asked his permission or given him credit.
Allin recently got one, and another one of those skeleton tattoos that Allin has got on different parts of his body already. This one looks like an extension of the head tattoo he got some months back from Caleb Morgan.
Since then Tyson has gone bankrupt in 2003, losing his $400 million fortune, been involved in several drug-related run-ins with the law, and got in trouble for comments he made in the media about Sarah Palin. Despite all this, Tyson has managed to build back his brand and is now worth around an estimated $10 million, mainly thanks to his cannabis company Tyson 2.0. He’s also helped soften the media and public’s perception of him by exposing his flaws in interviews, appearing in movies, such as The Hangover, and revealing more about himself on his podcast, Hot Boxin’.
Rachael A. Carmen et al. in the Review of General Psychology posit that Tyson's face tattoo may be an example of "body ornamentation as a form of intimidation". Charlie Connell and Edmund Sullivan in Inked describe it as having become "instantly iconic", while Vice's Mitchell Sunderland ranks it as one of the two things Tyson is best known for, alongside biting off part of Evander Holyfield's ear. Marie Hadley, in A History of Intellectual Property in 50 Objects, writes that the tattoo "has been described as one of the most distinctive tattoos in North America". Its stature has increased over time, aided by Tyson and the 2009 comedy The Hangover, in which it is prominent on Tyson, who appears as a fictionalized version of himself. The tattoo has become strongly associated with Tyson and has made his persona more distinctive.
