Online Outrage Over A Homophobic Slur At Celebration Of ‘Star Trek Day’ – Forbes

Actor Wilson Cruz, an out gay actor who is one of the stars of Paramount+’s Star Trek: Discovery streaming series, is addressing for the last time an outpouring of outrage over an anti-gay slur directed at him last week. It happened at a Los Angeles event celebrating the 55-year-old science fiction franchise.

“I just want people to know that our work isn’t done, and that even in Trek, we must stay focused on telling the truth about who LGBTQ people are,” Cruz told me Monday evening.

According to Cruz and fans who were among the 200 or so guests at the Skirball Cultural Center for “Star Trek Day” on the evening of Sept. 8, someone seated at the outdoor venue called the actor a homophobic word as he was walking out onto the stage.

At least one fan claims that the person who said the anti-gay slur was a woman, and that someone seated next to this person got up and left in disgust, but that account has not been corroborated.

Cruz, who plays Dr. Hugh Culber, an out gay man in a committed relationship, said he decided to ignore the slur and focus on his reason for being there: Celebrating the very diverse cast of Discovery, which boasts eight out LGBTQ actors. In addition to Cruz, there’s Anthony Rapp, Tig Notaro, Mary Wiseman, Emily Coutts and the two young actors who joined Cruz on stage: Blu del Barrio and Ian Alexander. A prior Discovery cast member, Mary Chieffo, came out as lesbian during a live red carpet interview just before the main event.

The disturbing news about the slur threatened to overshadow Sunday’s happy announcement: Star Trek: Discovery won its second Emmy Award, after 10 nominations, this time for special visual effects, as TrekMovie reported.

It was on Friday that Cruz revealed the incident publicly for the first time, something which a representative of CBS Television told me they were “obviously horrified” to learn about.

“You’ll never kill my joy,” Cruz tweeted, following it up with a famous GIF of Barack Obama in 2008, motioning as if to brush dirt off his shoulders.

Hundreds of Star Trek fans as well as followers of Cruz’s social media account responded with anger on Twitter, saying homophobia is a contradiction of the show’s philosophy.

Many questioned why the person who hurled the slur at the actor was not ejected. CBS declined to provide a statement responding to that question; A network insider told me producer Michelle Paradise, who was sitting about six feet to Cruz’s right, did not hear what he heard. Had the event organizers been made aware of the rude comment, it never would have been tolerated, said the CBS insider.

Jennifer Caballero, a spokesperson for the Skirball, echoed those comments in a telephone conversation Monday evening. She told me the cultural center is “truly a place that is welcoming and inclusive.”

Video of the event does not reveal any detail about the slur or who might have said it.

On Twitter, Cruz pleaded with fans to focus not on the negative but on “Star Trek, its legacy, its ideals, its visionary creator,” Gene Roddenberry, who would have turned 100 this year. Roddenberry pioneered the ideas of diversity and inclusion in the original television series that debuted on Sept. 8, 1966. He cast a multicultural crew for his Starship Enterprise, and in a 1968 episode, introduced a concept called IDIC, an acronym for Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations, as the basis for Vulcan philosophy.

Some fans pointed out that embracing diversity means they must reckon with the paradox that there are fans of Star Trek who do not share its ideals, including that of diversity.

Cruz had something to say about that:

“I don’t know that we have to accept that people hate us… I think Star Trek, especially Discovery, provides the answer because it helps us see that diversity is our strength—That accepting and understanding differences is the key to the unity that we seek, even more so, in this moment in time.”

He said this in a one-on-one, direct message conversation he initiated Monday night, to share his final thoughts about the incident.

“I have spoken to the parties that be and we’ve discussed it at length,” Cruz told me. “The fact of the matter is that I could never identify the person. I just heard it as I was walking out and it was almost like, ‘Did I really hear what I think I just heard…?’”

Wilson inserted the “man shrugging” emoji here, then continued: “It wasn’t ‘shouted’ at me, as some are now claiming. I would’ve absolutely made an issue of it if I had been able to confirm the person, but I can’t, so I really meant it when I said I wanted to move on. I don’t hold anyone at CBS, Paramount or the event staff responsible.”

Note to both fans and the news media: Cruz stressed that he’s done talking about this.

“This moment is not worthy of all of the attention it’s getting,” he wrote. “I regret saying anything at all, to be honest. I think the conversation and awareness that has been driven by this is enough.” Cruz added, “I just would rather not talk about it, anymore. It’s taken away so much from what was a great event.”

The Skirball is about to host another event related to the franchise. On Tuesday, representatives of the news media are invited to attend a preview of an upcoming Star Trek exhibit: “Star Trek: Exploring New Worlds,” featuring more than 100 artifacts and props from the TV series and films. It opens Oct. 7 and is set to run through February 2022. Advance tickets went on sale Sept. 2.

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