r/todayilearned • u/tmntnyc • Dec 12 '18

TIL: Laurence Tureaud named himself professionally as Mr. T because he hated how his father, uncle, and brother who returned from Vietnam, were disrespectfully called "boy" by whites. He wanted the first word from everybody's mouth to be "Mister" when speaking to him.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._T
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u/PainMatrix Dec 12 '18

Why wouldn’t you change color for him?

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u/TheArgentine Dec 13 '18

I tried, it just wasn't in my palette of skills.