Mr. T unleashed his anger at Netflix’s documentary about his life, calling the film “garbage” and arguing that it failed to properly capture his rise to fame and later retreat from the public eye.
The former pro wrestler addressed “Untold Mr. T: I Pity the Fool” in an interview with the Guardian.
“The documentary pissed me off, because they didn’t cover a lot of stuff,” he said of the film, which streams Sept. 8.
Mr. T added, “When I saw it, I was like: ‘What the heck?’ It’s garbage.”
The actor also accused the documentary of building him up before diminishing him.
“You build me up, then you try to punk me out,” he said, later recalling that his reaction was, “Wow man, I’m more than that .”
Mr. T was born Laurence Tureaud before legally changing his name.
He argued that important parts of his life received little attention, saying, “Two days they interviewed my pastor, and he gets 30 seconds [on screen].”
His criticism became even sharper as he discussed the documentary’s approach to his story.
“That’s what we call, in the black community, a white man wanting to change the story and control the narrative,” he said.
Mr. T continued by warning that the film could leave viewers with a distorted impression of him.
“If you don’t know me, you’re gonna think I’m some monster,” the 74-year-old actor said.
He also objected to the inclusion of unflattering remarks from his former agent, Peter Young, concerning the 1993 movie “Freaked.”
Mr. T argued that the documentary presented those comments while leaving out his positive qualities.
According to Mr. T, he asked director Scott Weintrob to see footage from the documentary but was denied access.
The Guardian described the film as suggesting that his “descent” from fame was “fuelled by poor decisions and bad behavior.”
“We started filming last year at Easter. I didn’t see the finished product until a month ago,” Mr. T claimed.
“I didn’t see nothing on film. So now I see it, I say: ‘God dammmmmmmmnmn, ain’t this something.’ We told them, ‘Don’t put Peter in my doc’, but he did.”
The former celebrity bodyguard said he struggled to control his reaction after finally seeing the film.
He recalled telling himself, “‘Lord, don’t let me go off. Don’t let me go off.’ ’Cos I wanted to go off on Netflix.”
Mr. T ultimately decided not to act on that anger. “And I thought: ‘If I go off in here, it’s not going to be pretty.’ I said: ‘Take the high road.’ So I took the high road,” he said.
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He also pushed back against an allegation in the film that he would attend events only if he was sent a white limousine.
“What’s wrong with white limousines?” he asked, before questioning whether he should “have a choice of color.”
“That makes me a bad guy? Let’s get real here,” Mr. T said.
“I wear white T-shirts sometimes; does that make me a bad person? I wear white socks. So what’s the beef about that?”
He then invoked Elvis Presley while defending the request.
“When Elvis Presley died he had a white limousine, so why can’t I have one while I’m living?” Mr. T asked.
“But Mr. T’s a bad guy,” he continued.
“We don’t care about him feeding the homeless, but, you know, ‘He wanted a white limousine, he wanted a certain kind of soap in his hotel room. Wow, he’s a bad guy.’”
Young responded to the Guardian’s request for comment with a brief message.
“Please give Mr. T my best, and let him know I forgive him,” the former agent said.
Representatives for Netflix and Weintrob did not immediately respond to Page Six’s requests for comment on Saturday evening.
Netflix allegedly told the Guardian that Mr. T had approved of the documentary before the interview.
Despite his frustration, the “Rocky III” actor said he had already accomplished what mattered most to him.
“All I wanted to do was buy my mother a beautiful house and pretty dresses,” he explained.
“I done that in the ’80s, so the game was over. It was done. I was already walking away,” Mr. T said.
He also recalled his mother telling him, “Son, there are some things that money just can’t buy.”
Mr. T insisted that wealth was never his driving force.
“How many people have sold their soul to the devil, chasing money? I’m not chasing the dollar. I never did,” he said.
“Untold Mr. T: I Pity the Fool” streams Sept. 8 on Netflix.