Perez thanked Tyson for an interview with multiple heart emojis
Mike Tyson slaps Jake Paul hours before epic showdown
Mike Tyson didn't appear to have any time for Jake Paul's antics on Thursday night and he met the YouTuber-turned-boxer with a slap across the face.
Former host of "The View" Rosie Perez was part of Netflix's broadcast booth for its Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul fight on Friday.
Perez is an actress who served as the grand marshal for the International Boxing Hall of Fame parade in 2013. Among some, she holds the nickname "the First Lady of Boxing."
"I learned how to box because I used to get beat up a lot. And I was scrappy. I would always fight back all the time, even though I would lose," she told The Guardian in 2022.
Perez was also a temporary host on ABC's "The View" earlier this year and contributed thoughts about the recent election multiple times, and often voiced opposition to President-elect Donald Trump.
During an episode on October 14, Perez criticized Trump's response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico in 2017.
"He blocked federal funding to go down there, he threw paper towels at us!" Perez said.
She also pointed to Latino unemployment levels under Trump's administration and to reports that Trump had sent COVID-19 tests to Russia.
"Please go to the polls and vote for Kamala Harris," Perez said while claiming to address Latino voters.
After Trump's Oct. 27 rally at Madison Square Garden, Perez was one of the many liberal voices to criticize a comedy routine by Tony Hinchcliffe, who jokingly referred to Puerto Rico as a "floating island of garbage."
"I was angry, I was hurt" Perez said in response during an interview on MSNBC on Oct. 31. "But I have to tell you, they picked on the wrong people."
"We don't take it, we don't take it sitting down . . . I think a lot of people are going to go to the polls."
Trump went on to win the Electoral College and popular vote, while earning the largest percentage of Latino voters for a Republican candidate in the party's modern era.
Perez made a post on Instagram on Nov. 6 acknowledging Trump's electoral win, with an image of a quote by famed poet Toni Morrison. Perez acknowledged that many were "disappointed and saddened" about the results but said Americans "must respect it if we truly believe in democracy."
But since then, the only activity on any of Perez's social media channels has been all about boxing. Now she is in the booth to put her political differences with Paul and Tyson aside to broadcast one of the biggest events in sports history.
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Rosie Perez attends the world premiere of Apple's "Before" series at the Museum of Modern Art on October 16, 2024, in New York City. (Michael Loccisano/WireImage)
Paul and Tyson are vocal Trump supporters, with Tyson's connection dating back to his personal friendship with Trump during the prime of the boxer's career. Tyson endorsed Trump during his first presidential run in 2016, confirming it in an interview with HuffPost Life in October of that year.
"He should be president of the United States. That's what he should be... Why are people mad at the people? Because this is who the people want to be president," Tyson said. "Let's try something new. Let's run America like a business, where no colors matter. Whoever can do the job, gets the job."
Paul endorsed Trump in a video where he made a passionate plea to his followers to vote for the former president on Oct. 31.
"Do the right thing, vote for Donald Trump. Not because I said so, not because Beyoncé said so, but because it’s what’s right. . . . Please, go, for the love of God, go exercise your right to vote on my behalf and vote for Donald Trump in this election. America depends on it," Paul said.
"Democrats have been in power for 12 of the last 16 years. So, if we aren’t happy with the current political state, economic state, environmental state, then who is to blame?"
But that hasn't prompted Perez from saying anything but positive and exciting things about the boxers and their hyped fight.
Perez even sat down to do an interview with Tyson for Interview Magazine, where Tyson revealed that he avoided AIDS despite having sex with a woman who also had the disease.
Perez thanked Tyson for sitting down with her to tell her these details in an X post on Tuesday.
"TY for the opportunity @InterviewMag and special thanks to @MikeTyson I had a blast chopping it up with you. That toad s--t is crazy though," Perez wrote with a string of heart emojis, a laughing emoji and a blushing emoji.
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Jackson Thompson is a sports writer for Fox News Digital. He previously worked for ESPN and Business Insider. Jackson has covered the Super Bowl and NBA Finals, and has interviewed iconic figures Usain Bolt, Rob Gronkowski, Jerry Rice, Troy Aikman, Mike Trout, David Ortiz and Roger Clemens.
