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Mike Tyson discusses Twitter shooting threat

“Anybody could kill me," the former world heavyweight boxing champion told CBS This Morning. "I don't have no bodyguards."

 

Kris Holt

Internet Culture

Posted on Aug 9, 2012   Updated on Jun 2, 2021, 1:06 pm CDT

Mike Tyson, star of a one-man show at a Broadway theater, has broken his silence about the shooting threats made by a Twitter user regarding the venue.

The former world heavyweight boxing champion told CBS This Morning Thursday that his concern was more for his audience than himself.

“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,” he said. “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 user @obamasmistress tweeted about plans to go on a shooting rampage at the Longacre Theater in Manhattan. The New York Police Department caught wind of the threat and requested the user’s personal information from Twitter. The company initially refused but handed over the information after it was subpoenaed.

The NYPD made contact with the person behind the threats Wednesday.

“We are talking [to] and will [be] interviewing that person,” NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly said at a press conference. “That person is not in New York City. Of course, there’s always the possibility someone else was using someone’s account. So we’re conducting the investigation.”

If the NYPD arrests the Twitter user, he or she may face charges of reckless endangerment or reckless statement.

Photo by birzer/Flickr

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*First Published: Aug 9, 2012, 1:25 pm CDT