Mr. T has trashed a new Netflix documentary about his life, calling the upcoming film “garbage” and saying it fails to capture the real him.
The cultural icon and A-Team star has led a layered life, as he poetically explains in a new Guardian profile designed to promote the documentary, Untold Mr T: I Pity the Fool. But to the surprise of journalist Simon Hattenstone and readers, Mr. T expressed no love for the film chronicling his life.
The former wrestler, now 74, said the documentary focuses on the wrong aspects of his life and ascent to fame.
“The documentary p---ed me off, because they didn’t cover a lot of stuff. When I saw it, I was like: ‘What the heck?’ It’s garbage. You build me up, then you try to punk me out. I said: ‘Wow man, I’m more than that.’ Two days, they interviewed my pastor, and he gets 30 seconds [on screen],” he said.
He continued, “That’s what we call, in the Black community, a white man wanting to change the story and control the narrative. If you don’t know me, you’re gonna think I’m some monster.”
The actor and wrestler has a history of philanthropy and advocacy, famously starring in Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” anti-drugs campaign and helping in the Hurricane Katrina cleanup.
The documentary, he says, doesn’t zero in on these chapters of his life. Mr. T also criticized the emphasis on his former agent, Peter Young, who used his stint in the documentary to say Mr. T made bad career decisions, including the 1993 black comedy Freaked.
But Mr. T saw his role as the Bearded Lady differently. “I didn’t have no problem playing Freaked, because we were going against the typecast. Brooke Shields was in it, Keanu Reeves was in it, Randy Quaid was in it. It was a fine role, but he’s putting me down for being in it. He wants to cut Mr. T down.”
He said the time given to Young’s grievances could have been spent more meaningfully: “...You could have had my pastor speaking about the people I changed in the community, but you don’t show that.”
“You see what I mean?” he said. “Why don’t you show Mr. T working with the Make-A-Wish kids, why don’t you show Mr. T being in the army? So we show Mr. T tough, and then you show Mr. T as the Bearded Lady. See, that’s an agenda. It was a hidden agenda, they had to undercut what I’m about. What a joke!”
Netflix has described its documentary about the superstar as “the extraordinary origin story behind one of the most unlikely and beloved icons in entertainment.”
Mr. T said he told director Scott Weintrob to leave Young out of his film, and also claimed he had to sue Young at some point in his career after the agent made contract deals without his knowledge. “Here’s the bit that really p---es me off. Me and my manager did a conference call with Scott, and he says, ‘What about Peter Young?’ and I said, ‘We had to sue him, so no, nothing to do with him.’”
“We told them ‘Don’t put Peter in my doc,’ but he did.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to Netflix, Peter Young, and Scott Weintrob for comment.
Mr. T says when he saw the final cut of the documentary, set for release on Sept. 8, he was furious. “I said: ‘Lord, don’t let me go off. Don’t let me go off.’ ‘Cos I wanted to go off on Netflix. 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.”
The Guardian’s Hattenstone remarked in his profile, “I’ve never heard anyone trash the very thing they’re here to promote quite like Mr. T does today.”
The Rocky III star has stayed off the screen for years now. He revealed that he is engaged and about to be married but didn’t share further details. He was previously married to Phyllis Clark, with whom he has three children.
