William Shatner says Star Trek co-star George Takei has 'never stopped blackening my name'
Star Trek's William Shatner has hit out at co-star George Takei, claiming he has 'never stopped blackening my name'.
The original Captain Kirk has recently spoken out against Takei for criticising him multiple times over the years since they performed together.
Speaking to The Times, Shatner talked about his new book Boldly Go, Reflections on a Life of Awe and Wonder, a memoir made up of a collection of essays spanning key events and figures in his life.
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The 91-year-old makes mention of several of his Star Trek co-stars in the book, including the difficulties he experienced in his friendship with Leonard Nimoy (Spock).
To say that Shatner's relationship with his fellow Star Trek actors had its ups and downs would be an understatement.
The rifts between the Star Trek cast members were so well known that spoof movie Galaxy Quest made reference to them by including a scene where Tim Allen's character discovers that the rest of the crew didn't like him.
Shatner said that he was 'horrified' when Nichelle Nichols (Nyota Uhura) told him the rest of the cast found him 'cold and arrogant', while Takei has been vocal in his criticism of his former co-star.
He had previously claimed that Shatner was 'not a team player', saying he was 'a wonderful actor and he knows it', while being someone who 'likes to have the camera on him all the time'.
The Hikaru Sulu actor added that 'the rest of the cast all understand what makes a scene work'.
And more recently, he claimed that Shatner's famous trip where he became the oldest man in space had the actor being used as a 'guinea pig' to test how an 'unfit' person would cope.
However, Shatner has since hit back at Takei and claimed that he knows why some of his former co-stars have spoken against him.
He said: "I began to understand that they were doing it for publicity.
"Sixty years after some incident they are still on that track. Don’t you think that’s a little weird? It’s like a sickness."
"George has never stopped blackening my name. These people are bitter and embittered. I have run out of patience with them. Why give credence to people consumed by envy and hate?"
UNILAD has reached out to Takei's representatives for comment.
Shatner also recently said that his trip into space had left him thinking that humanity was 'gambling with the planet' and worried about the future his great grandson would be growing up in.
Topics: Celebrity, Film and TV, Star Trek
Joe Harker