Mike Tyson Recalls Slapping Robert Downey Jr. in a Movie Scene — "It Was a Real Smack"

As Mike Tyson prepares for his live fight against Jake Paul on Netflix, fans recall the time he viciously slapped Robert Downey Jr. — yep, you read that right.

In 1999, Mike slapped Robert during a scene from a film they worked on. Years later, Mike has opened up about how the staged performance went horribly left.

Mike and Robert were co-stars in the 1999 film Black and White. In the film, Robert's character, Terry Donager, approaches Mike, who plays himself. As Terry, Robert tells Mike he's a big fan and had recently thought about him in a dream. The former boxing legend warns the character that he's not in the mood for small talk and is on parole, which Terry seems to understand.

However, after he mentions the dream again, Mike slaps him and continues hitting him while Brooke Shields's character records the whole thing. The scene ends with Mike apologizing for taking the situation too far and explaining to the camera that he's "from a different culture."

The staged beatdown has circulated online multiple times over the years. In 2014, Mike shared his thoughts on the intense scene with Windy City Times, per Fandomwire. The Tyson 2.0 CEO said he initially didn't want to slap Robert as hard as he did, but was instructed to do so due to the director, James Toback, wanting it to look more authentic.

"The director wanted me to really hit him, and I didn’t want to," Mike recalled. "He said, ‘You gotta real do this s--t, man! If you want to be an actor, then you have to smack the s--t out of him!'”

“It was real — a real smack," he added. "When he was on the floor, he was kicking me and I yelled, ‘Ow!'”

Fortunately, as disturbing as it was, the impromptu scene didn't result in an ongoing beef between Mike and Robert.