Simon Pegg insists he and George Takei haven’t fallen out over the ‘Star Trek’ character Hikaru Sulu being written as gay.
The 46-year-old actor – who was responsible for writing the script for ‘Star Trek Beyond’ alongside Doug Jung – is disappointed George, 79, didn’t approve of his character being gay.
Speaking to BANG Showbiz at the movie’s premiere in Leicester Square, London on Tuesday evening, he said: "We were emailing the other day, you know it’s discussion. We’re adults, we’re not catty fighters writing comments to each other on the Internet, we’re grown men."
George, who is openly homosexual and an LGBT rights activist, previously said it was "unfortunate" his character was written as gay because it "twisted Gene Roddenberry’s creation".
And whilst Simon insists the LGBT character could have been "anyone", he thinks it was good to make one of the existing characters gay as it is important that "it seems ordinary".
He added: "I think the reaction has been brilliant. It’s been amazing. The debate has never been about whether there should be an LGBT character in ‘Star Trek’, it’s been about who it should be, whether it should be a new character or an existing character.
"We felt that this universe – this reality – is that it’s ours now; it’s different to George Takei’s ‘Star Trek’. It’s a new reality and we have the freedom within that to play with things a little bit, and we should play with things a little bit, you shouldn’t hang on to the past.
"I like the idea that it’s an existing character because it means that it feels like that element of ‘Star Trek’ has always been there, it’s important that it seems ordinary. It seems normal because it is normal."
Simon Pegg: George Takei and I are friends
