When you become a Hollywood A-lister, you’re bound to draw old friends and acquaintances out of the woodworks hoping to hitch a ride on your fame train. But when you’re the “Hardest Workin’, Twerkin’, Lay It Down, Flip It, and Reversin’ It Man in Show BizNa$$$ty”, the haters be all up in your grill. That’s the lesson that Magic Mike star Channing Tatum is learning today, after two of his old male stripper peers have accused him of stealing their stories.
According to TMZ, Thomas “Awesome” Austin and London Steele are accusing Tatum of ripping off their life experiences to build the plot for Magic Mike. Hell, according to these Florida dancers, even the name Magic Mike was stolen. Say it ain’t B so, C-Tates!
‘Awesome’ Austin tells TMZ … he and his former male dance buddies are a like a “brotherhood” and, while they’re happy for Channing’s success, they feel betrayed by the actor for not involving any of them in the film.
They claim they took Tatum under their wings when he was a nobody and taught him all their special stripper-moves like “The Hot Seat” — which is featured in the film and Austin says he invented it.
The guys tell us, after seeing parts of the final product they feel slighted … claiming Tatum failed to consult them for accuracy and insist that, without them, he wouldn’t have any material.
Austin explains, Channing was an “amateur” when he met him and says “he only danced for 4 months. How many events could have happened to him?”
Seriously, everyone knows it takes at least 1 year to accumulate enough stories about horny old women losing their wedding rings in a dude’s banana hammock to be able to write a movie. Unless… wait a second… hold on… YES! I knew it, Magic Mike hired one of those “writers” to create a “screenplay”. Is nothing real in Hollywood?
TMZ claims that a rep for Tatum was unavailable, but I was able to get a statement directly from our good friend C-Tates…
