Jeffrey Meyer writes in a Feb. 25 NewsBusters post:
Actor and gay rights activist George Takei is known for his outspokenness when talking about gay marriage. As a result, the former “Star Trek” cast member felt the need to jump into the debate surrounding Arizona’s new religious freedom bill.
Appearing as a guest on The Last Word w/ Lawrence O’Donnell on Monday night, Takei expressed his outrage with the Arizona bill and proclaimed that not only is Arizona’s SB 1062 “not a religious freedom bill at all” he shrieked that “religious freedom is just a cloak for prejudice.”Takei continued his rant against the Arizona bill by pushing the liberal line that “They’re trying to write their prejudice into civil law… But it’s these right-wing religious extremists that seem to dominate in the legislature.”
[…]Instead of acknowledging that private businesses are being sued for refusing to service gay weddings, the actor chose to make a blanket disparaging statement that religious freedom doesn’t really exist and instead is “just a cloak for prejudice.” Takei concluded his tirade by pronouncing that SB 1962 is “really a disgraceful repugnant bill that is trying to hide under the cloak of religious freedom.” [emphasis added]
We watched the video attached to Meyer’s post (it’s an edited one-minute clip plucked from a nine-minute segment) and we didn’t see any “shrieking” or “ranting” by Takei, or even a “tirade.” He spoke in a sonorous, steady tone — the guy was Sulu on “Star Trek,” after all — and did not even raise his voice.
Did Meyer watch the same video we did? Or is he simply trying to discredit Takei’s argument by falsely portraying him as a crazy ranter?