'Barbershop' Actor -- Hires Rodney King Beating Lawyer to Sue United Airlines

"Barbershop" actor Michael Colyar has hired one of Rodney King's former lawyers to pursue a discrimination lawsuit against United Airlines ... because he thinks he was kicked off a plane for being black.

A rep for Colyar tells TMZ the actor has hired attorney Milton Grimes -- who repped King after the infamous 1991 videotaped police beatdown ... and won a $3.8 million settlement.

Colyar claims flight attendants were racially motivated when they kicked him off a United flight at Dulles International Airport last week.