George Takei Opens Up About Coming Out and Trump Feud: Calls Him the ‘Biggest Klingon Around

George Takei Gets Personal in New Book, Reflects on Internment, Identity, and Activism

Star Trek Legend Recalls Being Imprisoned as a Child During WWII

George Takei knows firsthand what it means to lose your freedom. At just five years old, the future “Star Trek” star was forcibly removed from his home by soldiers with rifles, along with his family, and sent to a Japanese internment camp during World War II. Behind barbed wire, he spent part of his childhood in confinement—an experience that would shape his life and advocacy.

‘They Called Us Enemy’ Recounted His Early Trauma

Takei has previously chronicled those dark years in his powerful memoir They Called Us Enemy, a first-hand graphic novel that details life inside the camps from a child’s perspective.

New Graphic Memoir ‘It Rhymes With Takei’ Explores Identity and Legacy

Now, in his latest release It Rhymes With Takei (Penguin Random House), Takei offers his most personal and wide-ranging work yet. The graphic novel format, he says, was a deliberate choice to ensure accessibility and emotional impact. Through vivid illustrations and storytelling, the book reflects on his coming out as gay, his childhood in internment camps, his acting journey, and his outspoken political activism.

Takei: ‘We Were Moved at the Point of a Bayonet’

“My childhood was one of deprivation,” Takei recalls. “We had no radio, no newspapers. We were moved around at the point of a bayonet.” His new book captures not only the hardships but also his resilience and transformation from a silent survivor to an unapologetic voice for justice.

George Takei on Trump: ‘The Biggest Klingon Around’

Takei doesn’t shy away from politics either. Long critical of Donald Trump, he addresses their public feud with trademark wit, once dubbing the former president “the biggest Klingon around”—a jab rooted in his Star Trek heritage.

George Takei Opens Up About Identity, Internment, and Resistance in Bold New Memoir

Comics Lit the Way After Internment Camp Release

After being released from internment camps, George Takei’s family resettled in Los Angeles’s Skid Row. Amid the hardship, it was comic books that opened young George’s imagination to new worlds—ones far from the barbed wire and soldier’s bayonets that had defined his early childhood.

‘It Rhymes With Takei’ Aims to Empower the Next Generation

With vibrant illustrations by Harmony Becker, Justin Eisinger, and Steven Scott, It Rhymes With Takei uses the accessible medium of graphic memoir to engage readers across generations. Takei especially hopes the book will strike a chord with young activists standing up for justice today.

A Name With a Cause: Takei’s Pride-Fueled Humor

The title is a callback to Takei’s signature wit. In 2011, responding to Tennessee’s “Don’t Say Gay” legislation, he famously suggested people use “Takei” instead of “gay” because it rhymed with the slur lawmakers wanted to suppress. “If you’re in a festive mood, you can march in a Takei Pride parade!” he quipped in a viral video.

First Acting Role: Pretending to Be Straight

Takei’s first major role off-screen was one of survival—playing it straight in a world that wasn’t ready for him. Though he realized he was gay shortly after leaving the camps, the fear of losing his career kept him silent for decades. Despite maintaining a long-term relationship with Brad Altman, he didn’t publicly come out until 2005.

Private Love, Public Guilt

Haunted by the deaths of friends during the AIDS crisis and inspired by those who spoke out, Takei struggled with the secrecy of his private life. “I never felt I could be my whole self,” he writes. His silence weighed heavily: “Here I am protecting my job while others who shared my identity were sacrificing everything for progress.”

A Veto Sparked a Voice

The turning point came when then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill to legalize same-sex marriage in California. By 2008, when marriage equality became law, Takei and Altman were the first same-sex couple to apply for a marriage license in West Hollywood.

Liberation After the Closet

Two decades after coming out, Takei says he’s finally found wholeness. “It feels very liberating,” he says. “I don’t have to fence my words or hide anymore. I can be candid and forthright.”

Trump, Internment, and the Dangers of Forgotten History

In his memoir, Takei directly confronts former President Donald Trump, who once suggested using the Alien Enemies Act—the same law used to detain Japanese Americans—to target immigrants. “We clearly haven’t learned from that chapter of American history,” Takei says.

Activism Across Eras

Takei’s activism stretches back to his teen years volunteering with the Red Cross and spans anti-war protests with Jane Fonda, a City Council bid, and transit planning for Los Angeles. Since coming out, he’s become a leading voice for LGBTQ+ rights.

A Seat for Trump That Stayed Empty

In 2013, after a stint on Celebrity Apprentice, Takei met Trump at Trump Tower to advocate for LGBTQ+ equality. The pitch failed. In 2015, Trump controversially told Time he might have supported internment. At the time, Takei was starring in Allegiance, a Broadway musical based on his family’s incarceration. He left a seat open for Trump every night. Trump never came.

A Future Without Klingons

A decade and two Trump terms later, Takei still sees danger in Trump’s rhetoric. “He’s the biggest Klingon around,” he says, referencing the infamous Star Trek antagonists. But Takei remains hopeful: “Republicans are beginning to turn on each other. Change is coming.”

Takei’s Mission: Hope and Action

“Change is constant,” he says. “And I’m working to ensure it’s positive, responsible change. No more Klingons.”