Actor William Shatner rose to pop culture fame thanks to his iconic role as Captain
James T. Kirk on the original Star Trek television series.
And while the beloved science fiction franchise is known for its bright outlook on polarizing
topics, Shatner isn't exactly known for being a paragon of progressive thought.
In fact, you're more likely to find the former starship captain trolling the darker corners
of the Internet than the darker corners of the galaxy.
Here are a few things about William Shatner that are entirely too shady.
The cast didn't like him
When Star Trek first aired in 1966, it wasn't a hit for NBC.
The show lasted only three seasons, and it didn't become truly popular until it hit reruns
in the '70s.
Those humble beginnings supposedly didn't stop Shatner from being a diva during the
show's production.
According to many sources, nearly the entire crew of the Enterprise had problems working
with him.
Actress Nichelle Nichols almost left after the first season to return to musical theater,
but there were also rumors that she wanted to depart due to Shatner's behavior.
She decided to stay after meeting with Martin Luther King Jr., who told Nichols she was
an important role model.
Even Walter Koenig and James Doohan feuded with Shatner because of their experience with
him on the show.
But it turns out that the one person who Shatner clashed with most often was Captain Kirk's
on-screen best friend: Mr. Spock.
Shatner vs. Nimoy
As the popularity of Star Trek grew, fan mail poured in for Leonard Nimoy's famous Vulcan,
which made Shatner jealous, and a little vindictive.
In the pages of his 2016 book, Leonard: My Fifty-Year Friendship With a Remarkable Man,
Shatner admitted to not handling the situation very well.
"He's mean, he's really mean.
I've been telling people this for years.
I want you to believe me tonight, I'm not kidding, he's mean, he's a mean person."
For starters, Shatner often hid Nimoy's bike, which Nimoy used to get around on set.
"One day after I had complained he took my bicycle and he tied it to a rope and put the
rope up in the rafters."
According to James Doohan's memoir, the two nearly halted production after Shatner refused
to let a photographer who was profiling Nimoy into the Paramount makeup room.
Nimoy reportedly refused to get into makeup until the photographer was allowed in.
Despite Shatner's ego causing considerable friction, the co-stars reportedly became allies
after Nimoy sued Star Trek producers for using his likeness to sell Heineken beer in England.
The pair even took on Trek creator Gene Roddenberry for demanding a large percentage of Nimoy's
convention appearances, according to Shatner.
The actors renegotiated their contracts together and became close friends for decades until
Shatner pullied a shady move with his 2011 documentary The Captains.
When Nimoy declined to appear in the movie, Shatner allegedly had Nimoy filmed without
his permission at a convention.
After that, the pair never spoke again, though Shatner has claimed he doesn't know why.
"So this dear dear friend of mine went to his death, and I don't know why we didn't,
why I couldn't confort him in his last moments."
In the end, Shatner even missed Nimoy's 2015 funeral, citing a conflict with a charity
event in Florida… even though the actor reportedly landed in Los Angeles just two
hours after Nimoy's funeral began.
It was a conflicted end to a conflicted relationship, even though Shatner said he considered Nimoy
his only "real friend".
His feuds didn't stop there, however.
Shatner vs. George Takei
"F*** you, and the horse you rode in on!"
George Takei's popularity has never been better, thanks to his strong social media presence
and his decision to come out of the closet.
Takei also has more Twitter followers than Shatner, which probably hasn't helped their
40-year feud.
According to Takei's 1994 autobiography To the Stars, Shatner acted like he didn't know
who Takei was on the set of the original series, which Shatner doesn't exactly deny.
"I literally don't know him.
I didn't know him very well on the series."
Takei also claimed Shatner even changed the script for Star Trek 5 so Takei's character,
Sulu, wouldn't be in command of a starship.
The situation grew volatile in 2008 when Shatner ranted in an interview that he wasn't invited
to Takei's wedding.
"There's such a sickness there, it's so painfully obvious that there's a psychosis there."
Takei claimed Shatner was invited but never responded.
Even though, as Shatner said, they didn't know one another.
The two traded many barbs over the years, but in 2016, they managed to settle their
differences for a reunion photo at Destination Star Trek Europe.
It's anybody's guess how long they'll keep the peace.
Shatner vs. J.J. Abrams
In 2008, director J.J. Abrams found himself in Shatner's crosshairs after the actor learned
that Nimoy would appear in Abrams' Star Trek reboot, causing his jealousy of Nimoy to resurface.
The problem only intensified when Abrams claimed his team tried to fit the original Kirk, but
Shatner, quote, "wanted the movie to focus on him significantly," rather than just making
a cameo.
"Cameo?
The only interpretation of the word cameo for me is that all that jagged stuff on your
clothing that makes you melt into the background, that's the only cameo I know."
Shatner responded to Abrams with a video claiming he was never contacted.
"JJ, I'm going to tell him personally, JJ, no one ever came to me and said, 'we have
a cameo,' okay?"
Shatner eventually became a big fan of Chris Pine, who played the rebooted Kirk, and everything
seemed to be going well.
And then Shatner discovered Twitter.
Shatner vs. social media
Shatner really gets into his TV shows, and has very strangely spent a lot of time live-tweeting
teen dramas, including Once Upon a Time and almost everything on The CW.
Where Shatner really goes off the deep end is "shipping", or placing two characters or
actors in a romantic relationship.
That seems innocent enough, but this behavior is especially heated when it comes to Outlander
stars Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe.
Shatner made it his personal crusade to stop Outlander shipping, allegedly to help protect
Heughan's real life, which was being upset by rumors.
It didn't go well when Shatner summoned millions of followers to focus on specific people whose
tweets he didn't like.
Some users even wrote to Starz in hopes of escaping Shatner's harassment.
And then things got even weirder.
On July 30, 2017, Shatner's tweets began furiously attacking progressive causes, which put him
deeply at odds with much of the Star Trek fan base.
The Advocate noticed that Shatner was using "alt-right language" to attack both Outlander
fans and feminists, despite often declaring that he's "not political".
If there was any doubt about his politics, the actor was noticeably absent from an open
letter signed by past and present Star Trek cast-members denouncing less than inclusive
policies in the White House.
Shatner vs. himself
While Shatner's ego has often gotten the best of him, he has repeatedly admitted that his
narcissistic personality was the cause of his trouble over the years and thus, assumed
some responsibility for it.
Even for his failings today, Shatner's oversized bravado as Captain Kirk has definitely encouraged
fans to strive for a better and brighter future, even if he's no longer in control of the ship.
"I'm the captain!
Don't you understand?
I'm the captain of the ship!"
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