George Takei Roasts Dean Cain After Superman Criticism
The internet has a lot to say about George Takei's roasting of Dean Cain.
This article is more than 2 years old
George Takei (Sulu on Star Trek) is fond of Twitter and expressing his opinions. He was previously fond of Dean Cain (Superman), but he says those days have long passed. The Star Trek actor has previously made it known that his political leanings are to the left. The actor well known for his time in the role of Superman sometimes likes to avoid naming himself a Republican but did vote for Donald Trump and has been vocal about viewpoints frequently labeled conservative. This puts the two actors on opposing sides of many issues. Recently, Jonathan Kent (Superman’s son, who now holds the superhero’s title) revealed that he is bisexual in DC Comics. Cain then expressed a lot of his opinions on a bisexual Superman. They weren’t favorable. Now, George Takei has a response to those comments and Dean Cain in general.
You can see George Takei roasting Dean Cain in the tweet below.
While George Takei’s comment references his own personal feelings and experience, and many find it hilarious, others were quick to call his critique of Dean Cain’s comments “lazy”.
The Hollywood Reporter has compiled fuller context on what Dean Cain said about Superman’s sexuality. Dean Cain didn’t necessarily seem against Superman being bisexual, he was more unimpressed by the move. He claimed that DC Comics was “bandwagoning”. Dean Cain didn’t see a reason for Superman to be bisexual. The comments George Takei was replying to from Cain were:
They said it’s a bold new direction, I say they’re bandwagoning. Robin just came out as bi-, who’s really shocked about that one? The new Captain America is gay. My daughter in Supergirl, where I played the father, was gay. So I don’t think it’s bold or brave or some crazy new direction. If they had done this 20 years ago, perhaps that would be bold or brave. Brave would be having him fighting for the rights of gay people in Iran where they’ll throw you off a building for the offense of being gay…
Dean Cain
Dean Cain’s comments and George Takei’s tweet have both raised a larger conversation Twitter. Some users talked about how the new storyline for Jon Kent mattered simply because romantic storylines are nice to see happen.
A large part of the conversation circled back to Dean Cain’s comments. George Takei’s followers zeroed in n the context of what Cain said. Dean Cain has suggested that it would count more if Superman was fighting in Iran, but others felt that the experience of the American LGBTQ community was worthy of representation in DC Comics.
Clearly, the conversation in George Takei’s Twitter replies has grown heated. That’s not unusual for Takei.
The wider conversation within the replies focuses in on representation and why it matters. By all appearances, Dean Cain seems to be a straight man, as George Takei mentioned. The Star Trek actor is married to a man. There is a wider conversation happening in media today about representation for people of color, disabled people, LGBTQ folks, and others who are not well represented in fiction. Straight white men have long been well-represented in American media. It may be fair to assume that diverse representation may matter more to people who are newly seeing themselves represented. Bisexual people reading about Superman and his ongoing romance with another man, and watching him go through his own coming out experience, may find a lot more reason in representation with Jon Kent than Dean Cain is likely to.
Dean Cain will continue to be asked about his opinions on new happenings in any Superman project as he famously played the character for years on television. Meanwhile, if his history of roasting people online is anything to go by, George Takei, will likely continue to roast him on Twitter.
