Featured Image Credit: CBS
Topics: Celebrity, News, Film and TV
Niamh Shackleton
While actors and musicians often have outlandish professional names that they go by, Mr. T has a good reason why he chose a more simple moniker.
From Lady Gaga and Lizzo, to The Weeknd and Jamie Foxx, it's not uncommon for stars to not go by their birth-given names.
People will often wonder how and why celebrities come up with their stage names, and Mr. T's reasoning is a lot deeper than you'd expect.
The actor is best known for starring in The A-Team and Rocky III, and found himself at the peak of his career in the 1980s.
At the time, Mr. T featured on American talkshow Late Night with David Letterman, where the now-71-year-old was quizzed about his name.
Advert
"Is [Mr. T] your real name?" Letterman asked in the resurfaced interview.
"If Pope John Paul II was to come in, would you ask him what his real name was?" Mr. T said in response.
Letterman dodged the question and went on to label Mr. T as being an 'interesting name'.
Advert
"I changed it because I wasn't given respect before," the actor went on to explain.
"People have a tendency to always constantly call a man 'boy' - for what reason, I don't know why - so I changed my name to Mr. T so that the first word to come out on anybody's mouth is 'Mr' out of a sign of respect."
When Letterman further pried about his birth name, The A-Team star quipped: "My first name is Mr, my middle name is period, my last name is T."
His real name is Laurence Tureaud, FYI.
Advert
Over 40 years on from his interview and Mr. T's response is still tickling fans.
"That is hilarious," wrote one person on X.
"This is gold," added another, as a third penned: "Never knew he also did comedy. This is funny as f*ck."
Advert
Elsewhere, others labelled Mr. T's reasoning as 'smart' while hailing him as being 'the coolest person in the history of the world'.
The actor was also asked about the origin of his name in a 2015 interview with The Huffington Post.
"I changed my name because as a Black man growing up in white society, I watched my father being called 'boy', and he was a preacher," the actor explained.
"I watched my brother coming back from the Marines and Vietnam and being called 'boy'.
Advert
"I watched enough Black men in my family being called 'boy', so I point to the fact: What does a Black man have to do to get his respect as a man?"
It was when he turned 18 that he legally changed his name to Mr. T.