George Takei, better known to Trekkies as Mr. Sulu from the popular, but short lived Star Trek series from the ’60s, recently got married. After California decided to uphold the ruling that same-sex couples have the right to marry, Takei and his partner of 21 years, Brad Altman, decided to make it legal on September 14, 2008.
They had a wedding ceremony at the Japanese American National Museum. They were joined by fellow Star Trek co-stars Walter Koenig (Chekov), who served as the best man and Nichelle Nichols (Uhura), who was the Matron of Honor. Sounds lovely, doesn’t it? Two people who are obviously committed to each other finally being able to legally be together and share their love with the world.
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Enter William Shatner to put a damper on everything. William Shatner posted a video on his web page last Wednesday, saying that he was not invited to the wedding, apparently because Takei holds a grudge against him. When asked by an interviewer about how he felt about the wedding snub, Shatner said, “The whole thing makes me feel badly. Poor man. There is such a sickness there. It’s so patently obvious that there is a psychosis there. I don’t know what his original thing about me was. I have no idea.” He went on to say that the whole time the two worked together on both the television series and films, Shatner never felt like he “knew the man.”
Takei on the other hand, has a different take on the situation. He insists that he and Altman invited Shatner to the wedding, but he never RSVPed. He said, “It is unfortunate that Bill was unable to join us for our wedding as he indeed was invited to attend.”
As for Shatner saying he didn’t know Takei, Takei pointed out that he and Shatner have done three seasons of television together, six movies, and 40+ years of Star Trek conventions. He went on to make his own jabs at Shatner, saying “I think his stability is quite questionable. … Bill likes to be the star of the show. He likes the attention that is focused on him. It’s a big, shiny, demanding ego. … It’s all typical of Bill. … [His] ranting and raving is just silliness.”
These two seem to have had a love/hate relationship for years (and with an ego the size that that Shatner seems to have, I can totally understand). When Takei first announced he was gay, Shatner’s response was a bit combative, saying “Who cares? Be gay. Don’t be gay. That’s up to you George.”