Mr. T has always craved "respect".
The 74-year-old actor - whose real name is Laurence Tureaud - has revealed that he adopted the Mr. T moniker because he wanted more respect.
Speaking in Netflix’s Untold Mr. T: I Pity The Fool, the Hollywood star shared: "As a black man growing up in white society, I watched my father being called ‘boy.’ And then I watched my brother, who came back from Vietnam, being called ‘boy.’"
The TV star explained that he adopted the sobriquet as a young man, because he hated the idea of being disrespected.
He shared: "I self-ordained myself Mr. T so the first word out of everybody’s mouth would be ‘Mister.’ That’s a sign of respect my father didn’t get.
"So when they’re addressing me, Mr. T, you’re addressing my father, my uncle, my brothers, and other Black men who came up from the ranks, who were disrespected."
Mr. T legally changed his name in 1970, when he turned 18.
And the veteran actor recently explained why he "self-ordained" himself as a teenager.
The A-Team star told People: "When I became 18 years old, I was aware of a lot of stuff.
"I understood about racism. I understood about all societal stuff. I understood about the South, and the disrespect, and the hanging.
"My mother used to tell me stuff about that, growing up in Alabama. So now, when I was 18 years old, when you’re old enough to be drafted into the army, you got to go register. So I said, ‘If I’m old enough to be in the army, old enough to fight and die for my country, I’m old enough to be called a man'."
Mr. T likened legally changing his name to an Englishman being knighted by a monarch.
The actor - who also enjoyed significant success as a professional wrestler - said: "I said, I self-ordained myself, the way over in England, they knight you and whatnot."
