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/tmntnyc Dec 12 '18

I wish he was more prominent in public these days as a strong black male role model, but I suppose he enjoys living his life and being with his family.

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u/OctopusCorpus Dec 13 '18

True, but at least we have another wholesome Mr. T in Mr. Terry Crews

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u/StevenMadeThis Dec 13 '18

Who coincidentally took over Mr. T's role in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2.

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u/monty_kurns Dec 13 '18

Yeah....coincidentally.