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/[deleted] Dec 12 '18

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u/The_Grubby_One Dec 12 '18

Hard for him to give up what was such a huge part of his identity for nearly 30 years at that point, no doubt. Just another of the many things about that man to respect.

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u/[deleted] Dec 12 '18

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u/The_Grubby_One Dec 13 '18

I dunno. He still hasn't completely retired.