George Takei addresses William Shatner’s claim that he uses his name for publicity

George Takei has addressed his Star Trek co-star William Shatner’s claim that he uses his name for “publicity”.

Last year, Takei mocked Shatner’s voyage to outer space, saying he was being used as a 90-year-old “guinea pig” to assess the impact of space on an “unfit” specimen.

Shatner responded to Takei’s comments, telling The Times: “I began to understand that they were doing it for publicity.

“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.

“George 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?”

On Friday (26 November), Takei responded to Shatner’s comments, saying: “Bill says I talk about him to get publicity… nonsense!

“I don’t need him for publicity so I’m not going to play his game by talking about him,” he told Mirror.

In his new essay collection, Boldly Go, Shatner wrote about the breakdown of his friendship with many of his Star Trek co-stars including Leonard Nimoy, who played Spock, and the fact that Uhura actor Nichelle Nichols told him his co-stars found him “cold and arrogant”.

“I was horrified to learn this, ashamed that I hadn’t realised it,” Shatner wrote.

The Captain Kirk actor’s collection Boldly Go: Reflections on a Life of Awe and Wonder is out now.