William Shatner Addresses STAR TREK Feuds and Blames Them on His "Bitter and Embittered" Co-Stars
At 91 years old, Star Trek star William Shatner is still holding on to and thinking about the way he was painted by his co-stars in the press over the years. Over the years he’s been criticized for his behavior on the set of the classic sci-fi drama series, but now he’s standing up for himself and addressing those feuds.
In a recent interview with The Times of London, Shatner puts the blame for the feuds on his "bitter and embittered" co-stars. In his new memoir Boldly Go: Reflections on a Life of Awe and Wonder, Shatner recalled feeling taken back when Nichelle Nichols told him most of his co-stars found him to be "cold and arrogant." Shatner said:
"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. I began to understand that they were doing it for publicity."
Shatner and George Takei have had a well-known feud for years, taking jabs at each other publicly several times. Takei most recently called Shatner out for being "unfit" and then went on to compare him to a "guinea pig" as he prepared for his Blue Origin spaceflight. Well, Shatner says he’s not going to take it anymore:
"George [Takei] 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?"
In a 2020 interview on David Tennant's podcast, Takei said that the tension between the original Star Trek cast began when Leonard Nimoy's Spock became a bigger deal than Shatner's Kirk. He said:
"It got more and more intense. How do I put it? It began from the TV series. There was one character whose charisma and whose mystery was like a magnet. It was Spock, the strange alien with pointy ears. That intrigued the audience, and women thought, 'I'm the one who can arouse him.' His fan letters were this many, and Leonard's were that many, and that created an insecurity."
Shatner went on to point out in a tweet that none of the other actors he ever worked with on other shows had the same issues as some of the Star Trek cast members:
"I do find it sad that a handful of day players who were on set for maybe 20-30 days a year total spent 50+ years creating fantasies to get noticed in the press. Why did actors in other shows I was in not have the same issues? I stupidly allowed them to do it I guess. No more!"
As you might imagine, the interview has caused a slew of comments from fans on social media about Shatner and his co-stars. It’s sad that things played out this way with the cast. I love the original Star Trek series and films, and it’s sad that this is how some of their relationships ended up.
