Quinto told Pedestrian.TV he hopes George will be inspired by "this really tasteful and beautiful portrayal of something that I think is gaining acceptance and inclusion in our societies across the world, and should be. Pegg says introducing a new gay character would amount to tokenism, because "they would be defined by their sexuality, seen as the 'gay character', rather than simply for who they are."Īnd Star Trek Beyond star Zachary Quinto, who plays Spock, is standing by Pegg today, saying that "as a member of the LGBT community myself, I was disappointed" with Takei's response. He insists Roddenberry didn't take on gay themes because he couldn't, not because he didn't want to. Simon Pegg responded to Takei's concerns on Friday, telling The Guardian newspaper in Britain, that while he has immense respect for the actor, he "must respectfully disagree" with him. NBC affiliates declined to air Star Trek's 'interracial kiss' episode in the Southern U.S., resulting in unprecedented low ratings, and in fact, the series was cancelled outright the next season.įlash forward to the present with Takei finding out just a month ago that the show would indeed go on, despite his objections, with a gay Sulu. John Boyega and Daisy Ridley headlined Star. Though there's still some progress left to be made, Hollywood is making strides in terms of diversifying the casts of major studio tentpoles. It may seem odd at first blush to assume that Roddenberry, the creator of the TV series that famously broke social barriers in the 1960s, would be unhappy about the depiction of a gay character in the Star Trek franchise.Īfter all, this was the first American TV show to depict an interracial kiss, between Captain Kirk and Lieutenant Uhura, but even featuring a black actress in a lead role was met with outrage in 1968 when that episode aired. John Cho reveals that the Sulu he portrays in the modern Star Trek films will be the franchise's first gay character in Star Trek Beyond. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Takei says that while he's "delighted that there's a gay character, unfortunately, it's a twisting of Gene's creation, to which he put in so much thought. When director Justin Lin and co-writer Simon Pegg both followed up with Takei directly to try to get him on board with their decision to show Sulu in a relationship with a male partner, Takei thought his objections had been heard. Takei suggested that introducing a new gay character, rather than having Sulu suddenly being revealed as gay would make more sense artistically in terms of a consistent depiction of the character. The series spent just three years on prime-time television but decades in syndication. Members of the "Star Trek" crew in 1988, from right in front: DeForest Kelley, William Shanter and Leonard Nimoy, and back row from right: James Doohan, Walter Koenig, George Takei and Nichelle Nichols, toast the newest "Trek" film during a news conference at Paramount Studios.
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