The Shady Truth About William Shatner

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00:00Actor William Shatner rose to pop culture fame thanks to his iconic role as Captain

00:05James T. Kirk on the original Star Trek television series.

00:08And while the beloved science fiction franchise is known for its bright outlook on polarizing

00:13topics, Shatner isn't exactly known for being a paragon of progressive thought.

00:17In fact, you're more likely to find the former starship captain trolling the darker corners

00:21of the internet than the darker corners of the galaxy.

00:24Here are a few things about William Shatner that are entirely too shady.

00:30The cast didn't like him

00:35When Star Trek first aired in 1966, it wasn't a hit for NBC.

00:40The show lasted only three seasons, and it didn't become truly popular until it hit reruns

00:44in the 70s.

00:46Those humble beginnings supposedly didn't stop Shatner from being a diva during the show's

00:50production.

00:51According to many sources, nearly the entire crew of the Enterprise had problems working

00:56with him.

00:57Actress Nichelle Nichols almost left after the first season to return to musical theater,

01:01but there were also rumors that she wanted to depart due to Shatner's behavior.

01:05She decided to stay after meeting with Martin Luther King Jr., who told Nichols she was an

01:09important role model.

01:12Even Walter Koenig and James Doohan feuded with Shatner because of their experience with

01:16him on the show.

01:17But it turns out that the one person who Shatner clashed with most often was Captain Kirk's

01:21on-screen best friend, Mr. Spock.

01:25Shatner vs. Nimoy

01:27As the popularity of Star Trek grew, fan mail poured in for Leonard Nimoy's famous Vulcan,

01:32which made Shatner jealous and a little vindictive.

01:35In the pages of his 2016 book, My 50-Year Friendship with a Remarkable Man, Shatner admitted

01:41to not handling the situation very well.

01:43He's mean.

01:44He's really mean.

01:45I've been telling people this for years.

01:48Now, I want you to believe me tonight.

01:50I'm not kidding.

01:51He's mean.

01:52He's a mean person.

01:53For starters, Shatner often hid Nimoy's bike, which Nimoy used to get around on set.

01:58One day after I had complained, he got my bicycle, and he tied it to a rope, and they put the

02:05rope up in the rafters.

02:07According to James Doohan's memoir, the two nearly halted production after Shatner refused

02:12to let a photographer who was profiling Nimoy into the Paramount makeup room.

02:16Nimoy reportedly refused to get into makeup until the photographer was allowed in.

02:20Despite Shatner's ego-causing considerable friction, the co-stars reportedly became allies

02:26after Nimoy sued Star Trek producers for using his likeness to sell Heineken beer in England.

02:31The pair even took on Trek creator Gene Roddenberry for demanding a large percentage of Nimoy's

02:36convention appearances, according to Shatner.

02:38The actors renegotiated their contracts together and became close friends for decades until

02:43Shatner pulled a shady move with his 2011 documentary The Captains.

02:47When Nimoy declined to appear in the movie, Shatner allegedly had Nimoy filmed without his

02:51permission at a convention.

02:53After that, the pair never spoke again, though Shatner has claimed he doesn't know why.

02:58So this dear, dear friend of mine went to his death, and I don't know why we didn't,

03:04why I couldn't comfort him in his last moments.

03:07In the end, Shatner even missed Nimoy's 2015 funeral, citing a conflict with a charity event

03:12in Florida, even though the actor reportedly landed in Los Angeles just two hours after Nimoy's

03:17funeral began.

03:18It was a conflicted end to a conflicted relationship, even though Shatner said he considered Nimoy his

03:24only real friend.

03:25His feuds didn't stop there, however.

03:28Shatner vs. George Takei

03:30F*** you, and the horse you rode in on!

03:38George Takei's popularity has never been better, thanks to his strong social media presence and

03:43his decision to come out of the closet.

03:46Takei also has more Twitter followers than Shatner, which probably hasn't helped their

03:5040-year feud.

03:52According to Takei's 1994 autobiography, To the Stars, Shatner acted like he didn't know

03:57who Takei was on the set of the original series, which Shatner doesn't exactly deny.

04:02I literally don't know him.

04:05I didn't know him very well on the series.

04:08Takei also claimed Shatner even changed the script for Star Trek 5 so Takei's character,

04:12Sulu, wouldn't be in command of a starship.

04:15The situation grew volatile in 2008 when Shatner ranted in an interview that he wasn't

04:20invited to Takei's wedding.

04:22There's such a sickness there, it's so painfully obvious that there is a psychosis there.

04:31Takei claimed Shatner was invited, but never responded, even though, as Shatner said, they

04:35didn't know one another.

04:37The two traded many barbs over the years, but in 2016, they managed to settle their differences

04:41for a reunion photo at Destination Star Trek Europe.

04:45It's anybody's guess how long they'll keep the peace.

04:48Shatner vs. J.J. Abrams

04:50In 2008, director J.J. Abrams found himself in Shatner's crosshairs after the actor learned

04:54that Nimoy would appear in Abrams' Star Trek reboot, causing his jealousy of Nimoy to resurface.

05:00The problem only intensified when Abrams claimed his team tried to fit the original Kirk, but

05:05Shatner, quote,

05:07wanted the movie to focus on him significantly rather than just making a cameo.

05:11The only interpretation of the word cameo for me is that all the jagged stuff on your

05:16clothing that makes you melt into the background.

05:19That's the only cameo I know.

05:22Shatner responded to Abrams with a video claiming he was never contacted.

05:26Uh, J.J., I'm gonna tell him personally, J.J., nobody ever came to me and said,

05:31we have a cameo, okay?

05:33Shatner eventually became a big fan of Chris Pine, who played the rebooted Kirk, and everything

05:38seemed to be going well.

05:40And then Shatner discovered Twitter.

05:43Shatner vs. Social Media

05:45Shatner really gets into his TV shows, and has very strangely spent a lot of time live-tweeting

05:50teen dramas, including Once Upon a Time and almost everything on The CW.

05:55Where Shatner really goes off the deep end is shipping, or placing two characters or

05:59actors in a romantic relationship.

06:02That seems innocent enough, but this behavior is especially heated when it comes to Outlander

06:05stars Sam Heughan and Katrina Bauff.

06:09Shatner made it his personal crusade to stop Outlander's shipping, allegedly to help

06:13protect Heughan's real life, which was being upset by rumors.

06:17It didn't go well when Shatner summoned millions of followers to focus on specific people whose

06:22tweets he didn't like.

06:24Some users even wrote to stars in hopes of escaping Shatner's harassment.

06:28And then things got even weirder.

06:31On July 30th, 2017, Shatner's tweets began furiously attacking progressive causes, which

06:36put him deeply at odds with much of the Star Trek fanbase.

06:40The advocate noticed that Shatner was using alt-right language to attack both Outlander fans

06:44and feminists, despite often declaring that he's not political.

06:49If there was any doubt about his politics, the actor was noticeably absent from an open

06:52letter signed by past and present Star Trek cast members denouncing less-than-inclusive

06:56policies in the White House.

06:59Shatner vs. himself

07:01While Shatner's ego has often gotten the best of him, he has repeatedly admitted that his

07:05narcissistic personality was the cause of his trouble over the years, and thus assumed some

07:09responsibility for it.

07:12Even for his failings today, Shatner's oversized bravado as Captain Kirk has definitely encouraged

07:16fans to strive for a better and brighter future, even if he's no longer in control of the ship.

07:23I'm the captain!

07:24As you understand, I'm the captain of the ship!

07:26I'm the captain!

07:27I'm the captain!

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The Shady Truth About William Shatner

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