With Warner Bros.'s guy-candy flick of the summer, Magic Mike, opening in July, we were expecting some controversy over the picture. Our bets were on the One Million Moms calling for a boycott of the film, or just the human anatomy in general, but we were blindsided by this one: Channing Tatum's ex-colleagues claim the star stole their experiences and used them as the basis for the film.
Tatum says Magic Mike, which he is not only starring in but a producing as well, is partially based on his own experiences as a male stripper in Florida. However, Thomas "Awesome" Austin and London Steele, who worked with Tatum during his days as a male stripper, claim that Magic Mike is more about their lives than his.
After seeing some clips of the film, Austin and Steele say they feel snubbed. They claim that they taught Tatum everything he knows including "The Hot Seat," a move that appears in the film. Austin claims he came up with not just the scandalous move, but the title as well, saying he minted the name "Magic Mike" for another dancer.
Austin and Steele say they were not consulted for the film and that there's no way Tatum would have a film without their experiences. Austin tells TMZ that Tatum had "only danced for four months. How many events could have happened to him?"
Austin claims that Tatum was an "amateur" when he met him. Even if that's true, Tatum seems pretty expert in the trailers for the film.
