The 44-year-old actor expressed his concerns about how George Takei, who made Sulu famous in the six original films, would feel about the character being gay.
- Jul 21, 2016
AceShowbiz - While John Cho supported writers Simon Pegg and Doug Jung's decision to reveal Hikaru Sulu as gay in "Star Trek Beyond", he admitted that he actually had concerns about his character's depiction in the film. In Q&A session during press tour in Brooklyn, Cho said his major concern was how George Takei, who made Sulu famous in the six original films, would feel about the character being gay.
Cho didn't want the veteran actor to feel that he "reduces to his sexuality." He said, "My primary concern was that I was wondering how George would feel, because he's a gay actor that played a straight part and crafted a straight character." He added, "You know? And his opinion was important to me, and I would have rather had him support the decision than not, so I wanted to reach out to him."
The 44-year-old actor had two other concerns regarding the homosexual issue though. He said, "I was also concerned that there might be Asian-American backlash. There has been this feminization of Asian men." He thought that this might be seen as continuing that lineage "which he personally disagree, but he brought it up."
Cho continued, "I was also concerned, scientifically speaking, that we're in an alternate universe but I'm assuming that Sulu is the same genetic Sulu in both timelines, and I thought we might be implying that sexual orientation was a choice."
As "Star Trek Beyond" makes its way out this Friday in the United States, the movie was screened at the White House on Tuesday, July 19. According to PEOPLE, Michelle Obama helped host the special screening and introduced stars Chris Pine, Simon Pegg and Karl Urban to a group of more than 100 veterans, military members and their families.
Today, Simon, Chris and Karl are off to the Whitehouse to screen Trek for @MichelleObama and #JoiningForces. https://t.co/xTB6SekOsx
— Pegg News (@simonpegg) July 19, 2016
"Isn't it cool that they're here? They're stars. There are movie stars here," the 52-year-old First Lady of the U.S. told the crowd in the South Court Auditorium. "And they're actually, like, normal-height people, handsome - let's just admit it, ladies, they're very handsome, aren't they? I mean, we've got to just let that out. I could tell you wanted to just release that," she continued as the crowd applauded.
