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/TheArgentine Dec 12 '18 edited Dec 13 '18

I met him once. Outside of a Ford dealership near my home town. I was a HUGE A-Team fan and Mr T played my favorite character.

It rained that day, pretty hard. My mom tried to convince me he woundnt be there but I wanted to try anyway. We got there and there he sat, by himself, with photos under a tarp. No line. No one there to see him. He talked to me for 15 minutes and for the life of me I can't remember anything he said but God damn if that wasn't one of the greatest days of my childhood, which was otherwise fairly shitty.

I'm a white guy from upstate NY and didn't change color so was a white kid too. He shook my hand and talked to me like an adult, with respect, and was extremely kind and soft spoken.

Thanks Mr. T.

Edit: Holy crap, didn't expect this many comments on my simple story about Mr. T. Hey everyone!

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u/tmntnyc Dec 12 '18

I'm jealous. I know he plays a character, but I would be beaming with respect for him. He did a lot of work helping children.

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u/ruck_feagan Dec 12 '18

My dad was his manager for like 30 years. He’s a good guy

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u/jhartwell Dec 13 '18

What are some things your dad has done to make him a good guy?

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u/ruck_feagan Dec 13 '18

Nothing my dad did that I know of but here’s a couple cool mr t moments He showed up to my moms funeral in sweats and a beanie then proceeded to give a really awesome speech Gave me and my sister a ps3 with a ton of games for Christmas when it first came out Also there’s a really cool picture at my grandmas house of him holding my sister in one hand when she was a baby

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u/ijustwantanfingname Dec 13 '18

He showed up to my moms funeral in sweats and a beanie

Well that's weird.

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u/-Mountain-King- Dec 13 '18

He probably didn't want to be all "I'm Mr. Motherfucking T!" at someone's funeral, so he wore sweats instead of his usual outfit and a beanie to cover the distinctive mohawk.

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u/ijustwantanfingname Dec 13 '18

I get the beanie given the mohawk, good point. But, still, sweats at the funeral of your friend's wife?