Takei: Shatner And Raw Nerve
3 min readGeorge Takei explains just what the problem is with William Shatner.
According to Takei, Shatner is not averse to using a situation for his own benefit when he wants publicity, and that includes weddings.
Asked about the situation between Takei and Shatner, Takei explained that Shatner has always been an issue and not just for Takei. “Well, you know, that discomfort with Bill has been shared by the entire cast,” he said. “So that was the standard feeling that we all had. But then it really got exaggerated when Brad [Altman] and I got married. We sent invitations out to everybody, particularly because we asked Walter (Koenig) and Nichelle (Nichols) to be part of the wedding party. So we sent invitations out to everybody, every one of my colleagues from Star Trek. Bill got an invitation. And he never responded. You know, Leonard [Nimoy] responded, and he was coming, but at the last minute, he had something that he had to do in N.Y. so he couldn’t come. But Bill never responded.
“And Bill’s never, you know, done anything with us. That’s part of the kvetch from all of us. Like when Leonard got his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, we were all there. When Gene Roddenberry, or when DeForest (Kelley) or Jimmy Doohan, you know, Bill’s the one that’s always absented himself. Or when we would have a party, Bill would never come. So it wasn’t surprising that Bill didn’t RSVP.
“But then a month and a half after the wedding, he goes public with this ranting and raving about our not having invited him. I mean, for one thing, you know, I never got any invitations to any of his many, many weddings, you know. So why should he, first of all, expect an invitation. But we did send an invitation, and he goes public complaining about it. And we were absolutely baffled by that.”
Takei believes the reason that Shatner made an issue out of the wedding invitation was due to his new talk show, William Shatner’s Raw Nerve. “And then later on I realized, you know, we were driving down Sunset Blvd. and here’s a billboard advertising William Shatner’s Raw Nerve, a new talk show, you know,” said Takei. “And I said to Brad, that’s why he’s been making all that noise about not getting an invitation to our wedding. So Bill exploits situations for his own benefit. So we know that about Bill. But he’s been playing it up. And then we went on YouTube, saying something about “George must have some psychosis,” you know, “He didn’t invite people…what is this with George?” So whenever he needs publicity, he revives (it).”
Will Takei appear on Raw Nerve? “He’s asked me to,” said Takei. “But you know, he is in charge of everything. He controls everything. Why should I subject myself to that? I’ve passed on it. And you know, he’s relentless. He has his producer call, he has a woman call…I don’t know who she is. And we’ve passed on it all the time.”
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