Simon Pegg Back Peddles From That Whole F*ck You Star Trek Fans Thing

By Brent McKnight | Updated

This article is more than 2 years old

Gary King!Simon Pegg is largely responsible for one of the best movies of the summer—though by the box office numbers, not nearly enough of you have gone to see The World’s End, which you should rectify immediately. He also managed to ruffle quite a few feathers recently when he issued a big “Fuck You” to Star Trek fans who voted Star Trek Into Darkness as the worst in the franchise. (It was actually beaten significantly by a non-Trek film, Galaxy Quest.) Now Pegg has tried to back peddle from his statement, or at least attempt to explain it away, but, in reality, makes himself look even worse.

Talking to Collider, Pegg had this to say:

Can I just please point out, following a few recent headlines of ‘Simon Pegg says ‘f– you’ to Star Trek fans,’ I was doorstepped by a journalist very early in the morning who told me that Into Darkness had been voted the worst in a poll.

That sounds reasonable, right? You get surprised by a reporter early in the morning, you haven’t had your coffee, you’re exhausted from doing a bunch of press for your new movie, and you’re feeling a little ambushed. It isn’t completely outside the realm of possibility that you let something slip, or that a flippant, offhand comment might be given a little bit more significance than you initially intend. That certainly appears to be the way Pegg is trying to spin his statement.

Here’s the problem, that’s not how it went down. The original rant appeared in the Huffington Post, and Mike Ryan, the journalist who spoke to Pegg, took exception to what sounds very much like a personal attack, and used Twitter to shed some light on the subject. Here’s what he has to offer on the topic:

In Pegg’s defense, I totally understand his reaction. It’s never easy when something you’ve poured your heart and soul into, something you’ve worked hard on for months at a time, meets with a negative reaction. It’s hard not to take a bad review personally. Still, fans have every right to feel dissatisfied with the movie, and conversely, Pegg has every right to tell them to fuck off if they didn’t like it. (Considering that it took in almost half a billion dollars worldwide, someone must have enjoyed the movie.)

I honestly have no problem with what he said. It’s a natural, instinctive reaction, and one that I actually appreciate. As fans we tend to take things way too serious some time. He could apologize if he wanted to, if he feels like he was misquoted or offended Trekkies, or he could own it. People will forgive and forget eventually, and no one will really give a shit. Accusing someone of ambushing him when that is clearly not the case is just a dick move and makes it feel like he’s trying to avoid taking any responsibility.

You should still go see The World’s End, though, it’s the best sci-fi movie of the summer.

In a grander, historical scheme, Into Darkness probably won’t hold up as the worst Star Trek film ever made. I’ll admit that I was disappointed by the movie, as were many other people. That’s most likely the reason it was voted last, because the poll was conducted this summer, and the film was so fresh in the fan consciousness. My guess is that, over time, the view on the most recent addition to the franchise will soften exponentially and it will fall somewhere in the middle of the pack, where it realistically belongs.