According to actress Marina Sirtis, best known for portraying Counselor Deanna Troi in Star Trek: The Next Generation, she has been a constant target of cancel culture, to the point where people have “been trying to cancel me for years.”
Speaking to Express.co.uk, primarily on the topic of cancel culture and social media backlash, Sirtis claimed that not only had she been at the center of numerous cancellation attempts, but that those who came after her have apparently tried to get her removed from Star Trek, despite the fact that she is no longer a regular on any of the franchise’s series.
“They’ve been trying to cancel me for years,” said Sirtis. “I mean they have been trying to get me fired off Star Trek and I’m like, ‘I’ve not been on it.’ There’s no such thing as me being on Star Trek anymore.”
As to why Sirtis apparently found herself facing regular brush ups with cancel culture, the actress believes that she has been targeted because she’s outspoken with her opinions.
“I get a lot of hate on Twitter because I’m opinionated,” the actress added. “But [people] do try to cancel me. The thing is, it only works if you pay attention.”
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She continued, “But I hate what social media has done.”
“I think it has destroyed society if I’m honest,” Sirtis explained. “I’m confrontational in the flesh. It’s very easy to be brave hiding behind a silly profile pic, or if you have one at all. It’s very brave.”
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Sirtis further noted that, recently, “I posted something very innocuous the other day and immediately got snide remarks and negative stuff.”
“I just thought this is getting really old now. I’m not loving this anymore,” she concluded. “You can’t even say something totally innocent without someone being a total idiot about it.”
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While neither Sirtis nor Express spoke to any of the particular opinions that allegedly sparked the aforementioned attempts at cancellation, the actress has, in the past, been a vocal critic of both President Donald Trump and Republicans writ large.
In 2019, during an interview with The Big Issue, Sirtis asserted that “a Star Trek fan does not equal a Republican,” before going on to accuse Trump’s election to the US presidency as an act based solely on racism.
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“Trump and Brexit are both about immigration. That’s the bottom line,” the actress told reporter Steven MacKenzie. “And you know what, we’ve got to stop using euphemisms, like I just did. ‘It’s all about immigration’ is a euphemism for racism.”
She continued, “We sugar-coat it, that’s how they get away with it. We’ve got to call it what it is. Fear of the other. And the other right now is people who don’t have white skin or aren’t Christian.”
Perhaps even more egregiously, amidst the winter storms that ravaged the state of Texas earlier this year and left a number of individuals dead, Sirtis tweeted, “Don’t get me wrong, my heart bleeds for what Texans are going through right now but the mean girl in me says you get the government you deserve and they have voted Republican, across the board, for the last 20 years. #BetoForGovernor.”
“People are suffering because of a total lack of preparedness by the Republicans in Texas,” she added. “My words are not making these people suffer. The politicians are.”
What do you make of Sirtis’ outlook on cancel culture? Let us know your thoughts on social media or in the comments down below!