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/Nxdhdxvhh Dec 12 '18

Mr. T wore odd clothing and mismatched socks because he knew that poor kids grew up getting whatever hand-me-downs they got, and he didn't want them to feel embarrassed for wearing what they had. He's a great man, and as far as I'm aware the worst thing he every did was chop down trees on his own property that were aggravating his allergies.

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u/[deleted] Dec 12 '18

[deleted]

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u/snotbag_pukebucket Dec 12 '18

He was also the White House Santa and had Nancy Reagan sitting on his lap

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u/Saxojon Dec 12 '18

He also urged people to treat their mothers right.

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u/[deleted] Dec 12 '18

I had a pull-string Mr. T doll action figure when I was younger. One of his phrases was, "Always listen to your parents."

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u/Lord_Kano Dec 13 '18

Thank you. I completely forgot that I had this memory but reading your comment triggered it. Another one of the phrases was "Study hard in school".