httpss://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeBKBFAPwNc
Former “Star Trek” star George Takei on Saturday said he’d run next year again U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes, California Republican, triggering widespread support before his would-be congressional run was revealed to be a well-played April Fool’s Day prank.
“Well, the cat’s out of the bag it seems. Let’s do this! #Takei2018,” the actor-turned-activist tweeted shortly after 12 a.m. Saturday along with a link to an article announcing his bogus bid.
“With what is going on now in the country, I couldn’t stand by any longer merely as a citizen. I knew I had to take a bigger stand,” Mr. Takei supposedly told the authors of the article.
Twitters users circulated Mr. Takei’s tweet over 18,000 times by early Saturday afternoon, all the while garnering the support of high-profile account holders including singer Nancy Sinatra and actor Mark Ruffalo, among others.
“I hope you can count me as one of your early endorsers!! This is great news!” Mr. Ruffalo wrote in a tweet of his own to Mr. Takei early Saturday.
Despite the avalanche of Hollywood endorsements, Mr. Takei announced roughly eight hours later that he didn’t actually intend to run for office.
“No, I’m not running for Congress. Happy 4/1!” Mr. Takeiwrote to his more than 2 million Twitter later Saturday morning.
Mr. Takei, 79, is perhaps best known for his role as Lt. Hikaru Sulu in the original Star Trek television series and several of the franchise’s feature films.