{"id":2253,"date":"2011-12-25T22:19:02","date_gmt":"2011-12-26T06:19:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rayivey.com\/wordpress\/?p=2253"},"modified":"2011-12-25T22:19:02","modified_gmt":"2011-12-26T06:19:02","slug":"okay-to-be-takei","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.rayivey.com\/wordpress\/okay-to-be-takei\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"rss\"<\/a>\"instagram\"<\/a>

Tonight at Christmas dinner I was chatting with Armin Shimmerman.\u00a0 After a little talk about baking cakes (me) and bread (him) I said, \u201cForgive me if I\u2019ve asked you this before, Armin, but do all Star Trek people know each other?\u201d (Armin played Quark on \u201cDeep Space Nine.\u201d)<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, we do, \u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cEven if we weren\u2019t in the same thing, we all know each other from conventions and cruises and stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

He then confirmed that yes, he knew my dear old friend Robin Curtis (Lieutenant Saavik in III<\/em><\/strong> and IV<\/em><\/strong>).\u00a0 Blah, blah.<\/p>\n

Then we just slid into talking about how much we both admired George Takei.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not a Trek person.\u00a0 Nothing against it!\u00a0 I just never got that into it.\u00a0 Basically the tiny bit I know about Trek is because of people I know who are professionally connected to it, not because I was ever really a fan.<\/p>\n

So my admiration of Takei is not due to his iconic status as Mr. Sulu, though of course that is very cool.\u00a0 No, the reason I\u2019m all about The Takei is because of what a fantastic civil rights activist he is.<\/p>\n

A native of Los Angeles, Takei did part of his growing up in the internment camps in which the U.S. government disgracefully confined thousands of American citizens during the war for the crime of being of Japanese descent.\u00a0 Takei has always been very active in Japanese and Japanese\/American issues.<\/p>\n

For the last few years, Takei has also been a relentless and effective activist for gay rights.\u00a0 His hilarious and biting YouTube videos garner stupendous numbers of hits.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always valued humor as a tool of ridicule and political discourse, and I find Takei\u2019s activist work to be subversively clever and devastatingly pointed.\u00a0 He has become quite a hero of mine.<\/p>\n

Anyway, Michael, another guest at dinner, caught wind of what we were discussing, and dropped the following little bombshell:<\/p>\n

\u201cTakei?\u00a0 You know I\u2019m his agent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Very.\u00a0 Long.\u00a0 Pause.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026really?!\u201d <\/em>I gulped.<\/p>\n

As it turns out, Michael helped Takei pull his career out of the doldrums.\u00a0 He\u2019s the one who booked Takei on Howard Stern\u2019s Sirius radio show, which really spiked his visibility. (Visibility!\u00a0 Radio!\u00a0 Yuk yuk!)\u00a0 He booked him on \u201cHeroes, \u201d commercials, and other things.\u00a0 Was at his wedding, yadda yadda yadda.<\/p>\n

When Michael first met Takei, the actor was still professionally pretty closeted.\u00a0 After he decided to be more frank about being gay, the same thing happened that has happened to other closeted celebrities:\u00a0 His career skyrocketed.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow great was he on the Shatner roast, \u201d I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh yeah!\u201d said Michael.\u00a0 \u201cWe were there, \u201d his wife Jasmine said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell.\u201d\u00a0 I said.\u00a0 \u201cPlease, the next time you speak to him, would you tell him that you know someone who is a HUGE admirer of his and who appreciates the work he does for civil rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael chuckled.\u00a0 \u201cTell him yourself.\u00a0 I\u2019ll call him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yeah, right.\u00a0 As yummy as this prospect was, I was way too polite to push it, so I let it go and let the conversation drift toward other topics \u2013 involuntary organ transplants, Serbo-Croation cuisine, fleas — you know, the usual stuff.<\/p>\n

A few minutes later, Michael walked up to me.\u00a0 \u201cTried him, no answer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wow!\u00a0 \u201cWell, thanks for trying, anyway!\u201d<\/p>\n

A few minutes after that<\/em>, he walked back up to me, phone in his ear.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah.\u00a0 Oh, George, I have a friend here who really wants to say hello to you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Handed me the phone.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t hesitate.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t stutter.\u00a0 I am a professional.<\/p>\n

\u201cHello, Mr. Takei, \u201d I said.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m awfully sorry to interrupt your Christmas.\u00a0 But I just wanted to tell you that I think you\u2019re one of the fiercest and rowdiest warriors we have for civil rights now, and I SO appreciate everything that you do.\u201d<\/p>\n

To which he replied, \u201cFuck off, faggot.\u201d<\/p>\n

No.\u00a0 KIDDING.\u00a0 Of course he didn\u2019t say that.\u00a0 Don\u2019t be silly!<\/p>\n

What he SAID<\/em> was:<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I think we all do what we can do, and I appreciate what YOU do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Classy guy.<\/p>\n

I said Merry Christmas and so long, hung up the phone, had a quiet little nerdgasm.<\/p>\n

If you are not familiar with Takei\u2019s riotous videos on YouTube, I highly recommend you check them out.\u00a0 Also recommended is his very active Facebook page.<\/p>\n

Average Rating: 4.9<\/span> out of 5<\/span> based on 251<\/span> user reviews.<\/span><\/div><\/p>

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