The thing about William Shatner is, you either love him or you don’t. As a legend and piece of Star Trek history, many people do love Shatner. But even some Trek fans are a bit put off by him and prefer Patrick Stewart.
But those are generally people who are judging between two characters: Kirk and Picard. We’re talking about people who don’t like William Shatner. And there are a few.
George Takei has made no secret of his disdain for Shatner.
Takei spoke with Bill Maher of the long-standing feud between himself and Shatner.
“Canadians have a certain image of being even-tempered and friendly and all that,” Takei said. “He is a person who is that way with himself … he is very self-centered.”
And now Artie Lange has thrown in his two cents about Shatner. Speaking on HuffPost Live on Wednesday, Lange answered a viewer question about which Howard Stern guest he was most disappointed in.
“He was a bit of a douche,” Lange said of Shatner. “He acted exactly like a guy you would think would be the captain of a spaceship … And was pissed that he’s no longer the captain of a spaceship. If that person existed in real life, that’s how William Shatner acted.”
Lange and Takei have the advantage of seeing Shatner behind the scenes. For many of his adoring fans and Twitter followers, Shatner is the essence of cool.
I love following @WilliamShatner. Not only is it WILLIAM SHATNER, but he also keeps me informed on what I'm to be celebrating each day
— Katharine Penix (@LadyKatharineP) October 16, 2014
And, as an avid Twitter aficionado, Shatner does serve up some follower-pleasing stuff every week. He livetweets television shows like Once Upon a Time.
#OUAT how does she keep clean in that dress roaming through the woods?
— William Shatner (@WilliamShatner) October 13, 2014
He answers questions and engages fans.
“@starfishaf: @WilliamShatner I came out to my best friends yesterday and it went very well” Congratulations!
— William Shatner (@WilliamShatner) October 11, 2014
But every once in a while, there is the odd hater. Like the one in this exchange about Canadian Thanksgiving.
Happy Thanksgiving if you are celebrating today or tomorrow (or both!) 😉
— William Shatner (@WilliamShatner) October 13, 2014
@WilliamShatner Your a fucking moron. Thanksgiving is in November but your probably one of those losers who thinks Jesus was born on Xmas
— Jennifer (@Jennifer111763) October 13, 2014
.@Jennifer111763 Wow! And you call yourself an author? Maybe you should do a search on Canadian Thanksgiving before doing Ad hominem attacks
— William Shatner (@WilliamShatner) October 13, 2014
.@Cindypeace123 Canada's Thanksgiving history actually predates the U.S. one by over 40 years. In 1578 Martin Frobisher sailed from England
— William Shatner (@WilliamShatner) October 13, 2014