By Kevin Korza
Actor and activist George Takei was at the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts on Wednesday November 5th. Most widely known for his role as Sulu in Star Trek, Takei talked about the relevance of the show in the 21st century.
“Star Trek today is enormously popular,” Takei said.
But he said it wasn’t always like that.
“We were going to be cancelled after the second season. But only because of the few fans that had discovered Star Trek and their letter writing campaign, which was a very intelligent and well strategized campaign, that we got a third season,” Takei said.
Takei also touched on how the series was ahead of the curve.
“It was revolutionary for television to have diversity in that kind of broad all embracive scope.
The actor not only talked about his television career but also opened up about his personal life. He said he thinks most people from the LGBT community start to get a sense of who they are from a young age.
“I was about nine, 10 or 11 when I realized I was different from other boys in ways other than just my face.”
Takei also shared his struggle when his family was placed in a Japanese Internment camp during World War II.
“My childhood imprisonment was not seeing the world as optimistically and all embracingly,” Takei said. It was a time of hysteria in this country and racism in this country.”
To boldly go where no man has gone before this is Kevin Korza reporting.
Photo credit: ScottElliottSmithson via photopin cc