George Takei shaded fellow “Star Trek” cast member William Shatner in an interview Monday, continuing a feud that has subsisted between the two actors for 50 years.
Alluding to Shatner in an interview with The Guardian, Takei accused the former “Enterprise” captain of being a “cantankerous old man and a prima donna.” When asked to clarify whether Shatner was cantankerous as a younger man, Takei replied, “He was self-involved. He enjoyed being the center of attention. He wanted everyone to kowtow to him.”
When asked whether anyone in the cast got along with Shatner, Takei replied in the negative, “No, none of us.”
George Takei says there was no camaraderie on the Starship Enterprise between the ‘Star Trek’ cast and “prima donna” lead star William Shatner. https://t.co/i8tvnwclst
— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) November 28, 2022
While promoting his book, “Boldly Go, Reflections on a Life of Awe and Wonder,” Shatner alluded to the on-going feud with Takei, stating, per IndieWire, “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?”
Shatner tweeted that Takei and other former Star Trek cast members have spent “50+ years creating fantasies to get noticed in the press.”
“I began to understand that they were doing it for publicity,” Shatner stated, according to IndieWire. “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.” (RELATED: ‘Guinea Pig’: ‘Star Trek’ Star George Takei Puts William Shatner On Blast After Historic Space Flight)
Of Shatner’s book tour, Takei stated that he knew Shatner had come to London to promote his book, but argued that it was Shatner using his name for publicity.
“So I decided I don’t need his name to get publicity. I have much more substantial subject matter that I want to get publicity for, so I’m not going to refer to Bill in this interview at all. Although I just did. He’s just a cantankerous old man and I’m going to leave him to his devices. I’m not going to play his game,” Takei concluded.