William Shatner is one of the most recognized actors from the Star Trek universe. The actor headlined the original series and became a pop cultural icon as Captain James T. Kirk. After the series ended its three-season run, the actor reprised his role in the six original films and has made appearances at several conventions and documentaries.
However, despite the fandom adoring him for his performance, he has often distanced himself from Trekkies and has made it clear that they do not have access to his personal time. Shatner once even told them to ‘get a life’ when he appeared on Saturday Night Live in a sketch that parodied a convention.
William Shatner told Star Trek fans to get a life on live TV
William Shatner’s Captain Kirk is a pop cultural icon, and there are few sci-fi characters who are so influential. Shatner’s performance as the charismatic and dead-pan captain of the USS Enterprise set the scene for leadership roles for a long time until maybe Sir Patrick Stewart’s performance as Captain Picard.
While Shatner’s fame went to interstellar proportions, he has maintained some distance with his fans. The actor has appeared at conventions, written extensively about his time in the franchise, and also featured in documentaries. However, he has always limited the time he has given to his fans and has stressed wanting to balance his life.
However, things seemed to take a disrespectful turn when he told Trekkies to ‘get a life’ on Saturday Night Live. Performing as himself in a sketch show, the actor is asked a bunch of specific questions by fans (played by SNL actors) and gets annoyed. In a speech, he said,
I’ve spoken to many of you, and some of you have traveled, you know, hundreds of miles to be here, I’d just like to say … get a life, will you, people?! I mean, for crying out loud, it’s just a TV show!
While the sketch itself parodied the rising nerd culture with shows like Star Trek and Star Wars and the parasocial relationships the fans began to share with the talent involved in these IPs, Shatner’s speech, as hilarious as it was, might have rubbed some off the wrong way.
William Shatner refused to give autographs to fans who approached him publicly
Shows like Severance have basically parodied the concept of ‘work-life balance’ and there have been so many conversations about the term, mostly limited to the corporate setting. But, a famous actor who is a pop cultural icon can hardly have a day off or have a calm, quiet evening with the family without being hounded by many fans.
However, William Shatner did not give in to niceties. He once had a long Twitter battle with fans, who claimed he was extremely rude when approached for autographs. He clarified that he would never give autographs to fans when he was in public (or in private for that matter). He responded to a number of suggestions and rants from fans who were unhappy with him.
Shatner eventually said that he would give his time at conventions and fan expos, and if that were too expensive, fans could catch up with him at book signings.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire