George Takei, popular "Star Trek" actor, explained his long-standing feud with William Shatner, his former co-star, in a
New York Times Magazine interview published on Tuesday.
When asked about the tension between the celebrities, Takei responded, “It’s not tension, it’s all coming from Bill. Whenever he needs a little publicity for a project, he pumps up the so-called controversy between us.”
In 2008, Shatner said that
Takei must have “psychosis,” according to the Daily Mail, but Takei maintains that Shatner and his alleged feud is a publicity ploy for Shatner.
Takei points to Shatner’s YouTube video in which he accuses Takei of not inviting him to his wedding.
“[Shatner] ranted and raved about our not sending him an invitation. We had. If he had an issue, he could have easily just phoned us before the wedding, simple as that. But he didn’t,” Takei told The Times. Instead, “the reason he raised that fuss two months later is because he was premiering his new talk show, ‘Raw Nerve.’”
The interview pressed on when Takei acknowledged that the rift between the stars dated back to their "Star Trek" years.
“It’s difficult working with someone who is not a team player. The rest of the cast all understand what makes a scene work — it’s everybody contributing it,” Takei said. He then admitted that “Bill is a wonderful actor,” the problem, however, is that “he knows it, and he likes to have the camera on him all the time.”
During the interview, Takei also talked about his childhood, part of which he spent in a Japanese internment camp in the U.S. during World War II. He admits that he has forgiven the U.S. for his and his family’s internment and asserts that “democracy can be as great as the people can be.” The Times interviewer then asks Takei how he can forgive a whole government and not Shatner.
“I don’t need to forgive him. I’ve already invited him to the opening night of ‘Allegiance,'" the actor said.
"Allegiance" is Takei’s new musical based on his family’s experiences in Japanese internment camps. The show is scheduled to show on Broadway in November.
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