William Shatner has disputed claims that he was in a feud with fellow Star Trek star Leonard Nimoy, following allegations made by George Takei.
Appearing on David Tennant’s podcast, Takei, who played Sulu in the original Star Trek series, claimed that the show’s cast had all got along apart from Shatner, describing the environment as feeling like “William Shatner versus the rest of the world”.
Takei claimed that the rivalry between Shatner, who played Captain Kirk, and Nimoy, who played Spock, stemmed from Nimoy receiving more fan letters than his on-screen partner.
In response to the actor’s comments, Shatner tweeted on Wednesday (26 August): “George needs a new hobby. Now he’s making things up. We never saw fan letters. That’s why there’s so many secretary signed photos.”
Shatner, 89, then took aim at Takei personally, stating: “We barely saw George. He was in once a week at most – how would he know anything? The only person with jealousy is George.”
The Independent has approached Takei’s representatives for comment.
Speaking about the alleged feud, Takei, 83, had said: “It began from the TV series. There was one character whose charisma and whose mystery was like a magnet.
“It was Spock, the strange alien with pointy ears… His fan letters were this many, and Leonard’s were that many, and that created an insecurity.”
In 2016, Shatner confirmed that he had gone to the Star Trek producers with concerns about Spock’s popularity, and expressed worry that his character, Captain Kirk, may be phased out as a result.
Shatner also revealed that, despite the pair making amends in the wake of the original Star Trek, Nimoy stopped speaking to him in the years prior to his death in 2015, and that Shatner did not know why.
