--- title: George Takei Clarifies Sulu Comments description: Star Trek veteran George Takei has taken to social media to clarify his disagreement with the decision to depict Mr. Sulu as gay . canonical: https://time.com/4405912/george-takei-star-trek-sulu-gay-comments/ author: Entertainment Weekly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-14T12:18:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T23:15:13.483Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: George Takei Clarifies His Comments About Sulu Being Gay og:description: He says he's "delighted" there's a gay character og:url: https://time.com/4405912/george-takei-star-trek-sulu-gay-comments/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaada92952af4bb18/69889beb428a9ea755cd36b7/george-takei-sulu-reaction-gay-delighted.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Star Trek: The Star Fleet Academy Experience Preview og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: George Takei Clarifies His Comments About Sulu Being Gay twitter:description: He says he's "delighted" there's a gay character twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaada92952af4bb18/69889beb428a9ea755cd36b7/george-takei-sulu-reaction-gay-delighted.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # George Takei Clarifies His Comments About Sulu Being Gay > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. by [Oliver Gettell / Entertainment Weekly](https://time.com/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Oliver Gettell / Entertainment Weekly Jul 14, 2016 12:18 PM UTC  Actor George Takei attends the Star Trek: The Star Fleet Academy Experience at Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum on June 30, 2016 in New York City. Actor George Takei attends the Star Trek: The Star Fleet Academy Experience at Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum on June 30, 2016 in New York City.Noam Galai—WireImage/Getty Images by [Oliver Gettell / Entertainment Weekly](https://time.com/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Oliver Gettell / Entertainment Weekly Jul 14, 2016 12:18 PM UTC _Star Trek_ veteran George Takei has taken to social media to clarify — but not disavow — his disagreement with the decision to [depict Mr. Sulu as gay](http://www.ew.com/article/2016/07/07/star-trek-beyond-sulu-gay-john-cho) in _Star Trek Beyond_. The openly gay 79-year-old actor, who originated the role of Sulu on TV and in several movies, struck a conciliatory tone in a [lengthy Facebook post](https://www.facebook.com/georgehtakei/posts/1622484171114363) Wednesday, while reiterating his preference that the rebooted _Star Trek_ films would have created a new gay character, rather than altering an existing one. Echoing his [earlier comments](http://www.ew.com/article/2016/07/07/george-takei-gay-sulu-unfortunate-star-trek-beyond) to the _Hollywood Reporter_, he wrote, “I hoped instead that \[_Star Trek_ creator\] Gene Roddenberry’s original characters and their backgrounds would be respected. How exciting it would be instead if a new hero might be created, whose story could be fleshed out from scratch, rather than reinvented. To me, this would have been even more impactful.” Despite his feelings about the importance of respecting Roddenberry’s vision, Takei said he is nonetheless “delighted” there’s now a gay _Star Trek_ character and “flattered” that the Sulu decision was intended as an homage to him. (Takei is also an established LGBT activist.) Takei went on to extend olive branches to John Cho, who plays Sulu in _Beyond_, and Simon Pegg, who co-wrote the movie and plays Scotty. “I wish John Cho well in the role I once played, and congratulate Simon Pegg on his daring and groundbreaking storytelling,” Takei wrote. “While I would have gone with the development of a new character in this instance, I do fully understand and appreciate what they are doing — as ever, boldly going where no one has gone before.” Read Takei’s full post: _Star Trek Beyond_ opens July 22. _This_ [_article_](http://www.ew.com/article/2016/07/13/george-takei-clarifies-gay-sulu-comments-star-trek-beyond) _originally appeared on_ [_EW.com_](http://www.ew.com) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4405912/george-takei-star-trek-sulu-gay-comments/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4405912/george-takei-star-trek-sulu-gay-comments/"},"headline":"George Takei Clarifies His Comments About Sulu Being Gay","datePublished":"2016-07-14T12:18:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:15:13.483Z","description":"He says he's \"delighted\" there's a gay character","url":"https://time.com/4405912/george-takei-star-trek-sulu-gay-comments/","keywords":["movies"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaada92952af4bb18/69889beb428a9ea755cd36b7/george-takei-sulu-reaction-gay-delighted.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Oliver Gettell / Entertainment Weekly"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaada92952af4bb18/69889beb428a9ea755cd36b7/george-takei-sulu-reaction-gay-delighted.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Star Trek: The Star Fleet Academy Experience Preview","caption":"Actor George Takei attends the Star Trek: The Star Fleet Academy Experience at Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum on June 30, 2016 in New York City.","creditText":"Noam Galai—WireImage/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4405912/george-takei-star-trek-sulu-gay-comments/","name":"George Takei Clarifies His Comments About Sulu Being Gay"}}]}] ```