Robert Beltran Talks Media Frustrations

Robert Beltran (Chakotay) spoke recently about when he had to deal with a particularly rude reporter.

"There was one," laughed Beltran, when asked if he'd ever been tempted to hit a journalist by David Bassom at Star Trek Monthly. "There was this time when the cast and [executive producer] Rick Berman and the writers were being interviewed together, and this guy from some small paper in Iowa said, 'This is for Robert Beltran: when are you gonna loosen up on the show? You're so stiff. You don't smile. A lot of people want to know if you just don't want to be there, or if you're just a bad actor. When are you gonna loosen up?'"

Needless to say, the actor wasn't amused. "I was just stunned. And I got so angry that I forced myself not to say anything for something like four minutes — which is a long time when the entire press corps is there and your fellow actors are there, waiting for an answer. Finally I said, 'Look, if you were out in space for four years without getting laid you'd be pretty damn stiff your self, you sonovabitch!' But yeah, I was tempted to hit him."

But it's not just the media that can give Beltran a hard time, some fans do too. "I think the weirdest thing — and it's not that weird, it's just a small annoyance — is that people who take Star Trek very seriously seem to want to kill me, because I don't take it very seriously. I find it very strange that people would actually hate me or dislike me just because I don't like Star Trek."

But it's not all bad memories, as Beltran elaborated. "My fondest memories are when all the cast were together in scenes. Those were the great fun times because everybody was a hoot."

More questions and answers, in which Beltran talks about his religious beliefs, perfect happiness and gossip he's heard about himself, can be found in issue 101 of Star Trek Monthly.

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