Credit: Warner Bros./AP Photo.

Channing Tatum says the characters in his new film "Magic Mike" are fictional, despite two former strippers' contention that they inspired parts of the movie.

The ex-strippers recently told TMZ.com that they once worked with Tatum - a former stripper himself - and that they taught him moves used in the film.

Tatum refuted the claims while promoting the movie over the weekend. According to The Hollywood Reporter, 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."

While Tatum said he didn't want to disparage the former strippers because they are "very interesting" people, he also claimed, "Those guys have been trying to make money off of me since I got into this business."

"Magic Mike" opens this Friday.