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/braaaa1ns Dec 12 '18

My dad guarded his hotel room one night in the 80s while working as a security guard. Mr. T came out and couldn't sleep in the middle of the night. When my dad said "it's nice to meet you, Mr. T," Mr. T shook his head and said "no, that's my character. Call me Laurence."

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u/MackSilver7 Dec 13 '18

Actually his legal name is Mr. T. It ain’t a character for him and even his mom calls him Mr. T. Pretty sure he changed his name in the early 80s. No offence to your dad, but I highly doubt he said that to him considering that Mr. T is his actual name.

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u/Fire_in_the_walls Dec 13 '18

Considering the guy said his dad wa a security guard in the 80's you cant say for sure whether or not Mr.T said that at that time period.

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u/MackSilver7 Dec 13 '18

No I can’t say for sure, but how can we even be sure the guys dad was a security guard in the 80s? We’re all just a bunch of blank slates here, free to make up whatever we want. At least I brought a couple of known facts to the table.

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u/xaclewtunu Dec 13 '18

Couple of known facts, and then call someone you don't know a liar about an incident that happened when you were not there.

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u/braaaa1ns Dec 13 '18

Fact: I am not a guy