Channing Tatum Denies Stealing Magic Mike Story

Last week The Inquisitr reported that two strippers that Channing Tatum worked with had accused the actor of stealing their “Magic Mike” nickname and premise of the upcoming film Magic Mike.

Thomas “Awesome” Austin and London Steele both worked with the actor during Tatum’s brief stint as a male stripper, telling TMZ that he stole the nickname Magic Mike, the moves used in the film, and their own personal story as strippers. The pair went on to say that they’re disappointed Channing Tatum didn’t involve them in the film’s process and that they weren’t given final approval.

Now it seems that Channing Tatum isn’t letting his people handle the rumor, and is actually speaking out against the allegations, telling the associated press at a junket for the film, “Those guys have been trying to make money off of me since I got into this business.” However, he didn’t let their accusations affect the way he looked at his past as a male stripper, adding, “I don’t want to say anything bad about them because they’re part of the reason why I think this world is so interesting,” he said. “They’re very interesting, intriguing and bizarre characters, and I’m thankful for weird people out there. They’re some of the most creative people.”

Even though he was happy to reminisce about his past, Tatum did state that the characters bared no resemblance to specific strippers like previous claims. “Look, there’s nothing that’s factual in this whole movie other than that I was an 18-year-old kid and went into this world and I dropped out of college from playing football and was living on my sister’s couch,” he said. “There’s not one character that I took from my real life; this is just a world that I went into, and I had a perspective on. And we created everything from a fictional place.”

Magic Mike opens in theaters nationwide on June 29th.