Zachary Quinto And Simon Pegg Vs. George Takei

The upcoming Star Trek Beyond already has some strikes against it. The most tragic one was when Anton Yelchin, who played Chekov, was killed in a freak accident last month. Other minor snags included the first trailer looking like shit, and Sia not exactly switching it up for Rihanna. And now “America’s Most Beloved Homosexual” (Richard Simmons has never officially come out) George Takei is shitting on the producers’ decision to make his old character Sulu gay in the updated franchise. Well, fellow Star Trek gay Zachary Quinto and actor/screenwriter Simon Pegg would beg to differ.

George was quoted as saying that the decision to make Hikaru Sulu (played by John Cho in the new version) gay went against Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry’s original vision and was “really unfortunate” Spock and Scotty would like a word, George.

Spock wasn’t lit up by Original Sulu’s opinion. (Pedestrian. TV. via A.V. Club)

“I think 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’s 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,” Quinto said, echoing Pegg’s statement. “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.”

Neither was Scotty. (He wrote the screenplay, btw) (Buzzfeed)

I have huge love and respect for George Takei, his heart, courage and humour are an inspiration. However, with regards to his thoughts on our Sulu, I must respectfully disagree with him. He’s right, it is unfortunate, it’s unfortunate that the screen version of the most inclusive, tolerant universe in science fiction hasn’t featured an LGBT character until now.

The world is falling apart at a record pace, so a celebrity gay nerd battle is kind of a “who gives a flying fuck at a rolling doughnut?” moment for everyone at this point. Mr. Sulu liking dick is not that crucial. I understand George wanting to honor the source material and the dude who probably gave him his first big acting gig. But you can’t tell me that on a ship the size of the U.S.S. Enterprise, two dudes weren’t beaming their cocks up into each other at some point.

Check out more pics of Zachary Quinto, Chris Pine, Karl Urban, John Cho, and director Justin Lin at the Star Trek Beyond photo call and premiere in Australia below.

Pics: Splash