Openly gay Star Trek actor Zachary Quinto is “disappointed” in openly gay Star Trek alum George Takei’s disappointment in making Sulu gay in Star Trek Beyond.
First, a brief recap: Yesterday we learned that Sulu will be gay in this month’s Star Trek Beyond, and most people saw it as excellent news (because representation!). Later in the day, former Sulu actor George Takei expressed deep disappointment — and revealed he campaigned against the decision — because he thought it went against Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry’s original vision. Takei’s remarks were surprising since the actor has always championed LGBT rights and representation.
Now, in a new interview promoting Beyond, Spock actor Zachary Quinto takes the side of the new Trek.
“I was disappointed by the fact that George was disappointed,” Quinto told Pedestrian.TV. “Any member of the LGBT community that takes issue with the normalized and positive portrayal of members of our community in Hollywood and in mainstream blockbuster cinema…I get it that he has had his own personal journey and has his own personal relationship with this character, but, you know, as we established in the first ‘Star Trek’ film in 2009, we’ve created an alternate universe, and my hope is that eventually George can be strengthened by the enormously positive response from especially young people who are heartened by and 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.”
Watch the actor make his remarks below:
Quinto’s comments build on what producer and co-star Simon Pegg said this morning: “Justin Lin, Doug Jung and I loved the idea of it being someone we already knew because the audience have a pre-existing opinion of that character as a human being, unaffected by any prejudice.” Read Pegg’s full remarks here. Read Takei’s remarks here. Read the original announcement here.
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