Twitter user Michael Benson, of talkSport.com, shared the July 2020 post from Tyson’s Facebook page with the caption, “Mike Tyson has been filmed repeatedly punching a man in the face on a plane after being provoked. He posted this on Facebook back in 2020…”

Benson’s tweet included an image of the post, which features a photo of Tyson with wording that reads, “Social media made y’all way too comfortable with disrespecting people and not getting punched in the face for it.”

The almost-two-year-old Facebook post resurfaced shortly after TMZ reported that Tyson allegedly punched a man several times while on a flight from San Francisco to Florida. TMZ reported that while on the flight, an allegedly intoxicated man attempted to talk to Tyson several times, despite Tyson’s repeated requests for him to stop.

After the man refused to stop, the video shows Tyson punching the man numerous times, leaving him with several cuts on his face. In the video obtained by TMZ, a person filming can be heard saying that his “boy just got beat up by MIke Tyson.” The person filming the video also says that they are on a JetBlue flight.

TMZ reported that after the man was punched by Tyson, he received medical attention and reported the incident to police. It is unclear what law enforcement authority responded to the incident.

Representatives for Tyson told Newsweek that “Unfortunately, Mr. Tyson had an incident on a flight with an aggressive passenger who began harassing him and threw a water bottle at him while he was in his seat.”

Newsweek reached out to JetBlue for comment.

Shortly after the incident, numerous social media users spoke out to share their views of Tyson.

“Mike Tyson punched somebody who was Fn with him……. The problem is nowadays, MFs think they WON’T get punched in the Face…” rapper Ice T wrote in a tweet.

Similarly, rapper Wale wrote, “Why would anyone provoke Mike Tyson.”

Comedian Jim Norton wrote, “Mike Tyson handled an unruly passenger on a plane the way every unruly passenger should be handled on a plane.”

Tyson is known for his career in professional boxing, where he became the youngest heavyweight champion ever, at age 20, in 1987. In 1992, Tyson was convicted of rape and served three years in prison. A few years later in 1997, Tyson was disqualified from a fight after biting Evander Holyfield’s ear.