In news that will break the hearts of Star Trek dorks, Facebook dweebs, and general nerd-dom everywhere—not to mention people who just enjoy the man’s positivity-enthused, socially conscious approach to internet celebrity—George Takei has revealed that his earlier announced plans to run for Congress were only an April Fool’s joke. Yesterday, Takei appeared to verify a story running on The Daily Buzz, which stated that he was planning to run for Congress in 2018 in order to unseat California’s Devin Nunes. (Nunes is the head of the House Intelligence Committee, and has been accused of allowing his friends in the Trump White House to influence the Committee’s investigations.) But Takei revealed this morning that he was only April Foolsing, or, as it’s known the other 364 days of the year, lying:
It’s actually kind of a shame. While we’d hate to deny Takei his current life, which mostly seems to be spent enjoying himself, posting fun videos for his nearly 10 million Facebook followers, and slipping in a contractually obligated “Oh my” from time to time, his “campaign announcement” had some welcome heat to it:
I think Nunes is vulnerable. And I plan to prove that. People are tired of his ass-kissing of Trump. Can I say that? I think I can. These days you can say pretty much anything and not get in trouble.
I want to be a champion for all people, but especially those whose voices are not heard often in the halls of Congress. We need to build a majority again in Congress, too, to be a check against the Trump Administration’s excesses, assuming he’s even around by then to keep making horrific mistakes.
Instead, though, he’s throwing his support behind Georgia Democrat Jon Ossof, who’s running in a special election on April 18.