‘Star Trek’ Icon William Shatner Roasts Paramount’s Continued Attempts To Memory-Hole Captain Kirk: “It Makes No Difference To Me That A Group Who Think They Are ‘Enlightened’ Obviously Feels Threatened By The Character”
Spencer Baculi
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Never the one to let the whining of even his most ardent critics get to him, William Shatner recently admitted that he is unphased by Paramount Plus’ ongoing attempts to erase his iconic Captain Kirk from Star Trek history because, simply put, he knows their petty attempts at doing so will have little, if any, effect on his well-established legacy as the franchise’s first leading man.
Shatner’s offered his opinion on Paramount’s memory-holing of his famous Starfleet captain on January 6th while answering fan questions via his personal Twitter account.
The conversation which led to this reveal began when user @colm_dunphy asked the actor for his thoughts on “all the negativity about Sir Patricks announcement [that] there’s a Picard movie script in the works?”, to which Shatner proudly shared an animated GIF of Disney’s Snow White dancing alongside the text ‘Haters Gonna Hate’ and declared, “I think that a new movie with Sir Patrick is wonderful news.”
Continuing on the subject of returning franchise leads, user @Herostraous then pressed Shatner, “but will we ever see Captain Kirk again?”
In turn, the actor shared a current shot of the Paramount Plus app’s Star Trek collection banner graphic – in which every single television entry in the franchise is visually represented by their respective leads, save for The Next Generation, which is embodied by Geordi LaForge due to Picard serving as the face of his solo series, and The Original Series, which for no apparent reason is championed by Spock instead of Kirk – and cheekily told the fan, “All you have to do is look at the Paramount+ graphics to answer that question.”
Taking note of user @Kic47256’s subsequent questioning as to whether or not “anyone at Paramount [had ever] come out with an official explanation for this MASSIVE FLUB?,” the actor retweeted their inquiry and revealed, “It’s not the first time it’s been going on for years.”
“It makes no difference to me that a group who think they are ‘enlightened’ (or whatever they think they are) obviously feels threatened by the Kirk character,” he added. “It’s a character from a 1960’s TV show- get over it.”
In a follow-up tweet, the legendary actor further assured his concerned fans, “It doesn’t bother me in the least. A bunch of self righteous strangers thinking they are sending a message by erasing the past? Who is going to forget? It’s everywhere.”
“It’s so indoctrinated that it will take many generations to be forgotten no matter what they do,” said Shatner. “Let it be.”
Finally, finding himself having said all he wanted to say on the topic, Shatner ultimately closed out the discussion by sharing an animated GIF in which Schitt’s Creek actor Dan Levy can be seen exclaiming “We’re gonna move on” during his February 2021 appearance on Saturday Night Live.
Shatner’s next confirmed project, an as-of-yet-undisclosed in voice role in Kevin Smith’s upcoming Masters of the UNiverse: Revolution, is currently on track to debut sometime in 2024.
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