George Takei Explains Feud With Shatner, But It’s Not What You Think [Video]

George Takei, who played Mr. Sulu in the Star Trek franchise, publicly spoke about his decades-long feud with co-star William Shatner. According to Takei, the ball is completely in Shatner’s court.

“It’s all coming from Bill. Whenever he needs a little publicity for a project, he pumps up the so-called controversy between us,” George Takei told the New York Times Magazine in an interview, adding that there’s no real tension, except the drama Shatner stirs up to promote a project.

“Two months after my wedding [to husband Brad in 2008], [Shatner] went on YouTube and ranted and raved about our not sending him an invitation. We had. If he had an issue, he could have easily just phoned us before the wedding, simple as that. But he didn’t. And the reason he raised that fuss two months later is because he was premiering his new talk show, Raw Nerve.”

The feud between the George and Shatner isn’t new — it dates back to the days of Star Trek.

“It’s difficult working with someone who is not a team player. The rest of the cast all understand what makes a scene work — it’s everybody contributing to it. But Bill is a wonderful actor, and he knows it, and he likes to have the camera on him all the time,” George said, according to ABC News.

As previously reported by the Inquisitr, Shatner is planning a road trip from Chicago to Los Angeles over eight days in a three-wheeled, custom motorcycle — all in the name of charity.

“I’ve been across this country on my thumb, in sports cars, in trucks, with a dog, with a family, but I’ve never been across the country on a motorcycle. I wanna do that. And I’m going to do that on this new Rivet motorcycle,” explained the 84-year-old front man of Star Trek.

George Takei has his own projects to look forward to. It’s well known that Takei and his family were forced into an internment camp during World War II — a struggle that he says he forgives. Although his father “came back to Los Angeles from the camp with nothing,” he wasn’t bitter, telling George, “democracy can be as great as the people can be, but it’s also as fallible as people are.”

George Takei ended his interview by confirming he doesn’t need to forgive Shatner. Takei sent Shatner an invite to his new musical, Allegiance, which tells the story of his family’s struggles in the internment camp. Takei plans to open the musical on Broadway this November.

[Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez / Getty Images]