Netflix is facing a $50 million lawsuit over the controversial Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight.
On Friday (November 15), Jake Paul defeated the 58-year-old former world heavyweight champion in what was arguably the biggest boxing event of the century.
The eight-round contest, which was streamed for free on Netflix, was scored 80-72, 79-73, and 79-73 in favor of the controversial YouTuber-turned-boxer.
According to the streaming service, the clash between the stars drew a massive global audience, with 60 million households tuning in, BBC reported.
The viewership peaked at 65 million concurrent streams, per The New York Post.
However, the technical difficulties that occurred during the match has now sparked a big-money class action lawsuit against the streamer.
Many viewers expressed their frustration with the frequent glitches and buffering issues that plagued the stream before and during the fight.
According to Down Detector, nearly 85,000 users reported problems with outages or difficulties leading up to the major event.
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As per TMZ, a subscriber named Ronald “Blue” Denton, from Florida, has decided to take legal action against the company.
The man claimed that Netflix was guilty of breach of contract over the frequent glitches during the highly-anticipated boxing match, and is seeking damages of at least $50 million on behalf of millions of affected viewers.
“60 million Americans were hyped to see ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson, ‘The Baddest Man on the Planet’ versus Youtuber-turner-prizefighter Jake Paul. What they saw was ‘The Baddest Streaming on Planet,’” the lawsuit notes, cited by The New York Post.
It was alleged that many reportedly missed portions of the fight due to the constant interruptions.
“Netflix customers experienced massive streaming issues and should have known better because it’s happened before. They were woefully ill-prepared,” the lawsuit added.
Citing “over 100,000 people complaining online,” the court filing claimed that “boxing fans, along with the average Americans wanting to see a legend in what would most likely be his last fight, were faced with legendary problems, including: no access, streaming glitches and buffering issues”.
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Netflix issued a statement, acknowledging that the quality of its stream during the bout was subpar.
“This unprecedented scale created many technical challenges, which the launch team tackled brilliantly by prioritizing stability of the stream for the majority of viewers,” Netflix executive Elizabeth Stone said, per Daily Mail.
“I’m sure many of you have seen the chatter in the press and on social media about the quality issues,” she continued. “We don’t want to dismiss the poor experience of some members and know we have room for improvement but still consider this event a huge success.”
