A legendary actor has taken a surprising turn to the right after calling on President Donald Trump to make Pluto great again.
William Shatner, best known for playing Captain Kirk on Star Trek, advocated for the Republican leader to disregard scientists’ opinions and declare Pluto as the ninth planet in the solar system once more.
The actor criticized the scientific community on Thursday, referring to members of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) as ‘idiots’ for removing Pluto’s planet status in 2006, a position it had held since its discovery in 1930.
The 94-year-old expressed his frustration with the scientific community on X after astronomers identified a substantial mass in our solar system, which some are now referring to as the new ‘Planet Nine.’
This new ‘planet’ is believed to be hanging out at the very edge of our solar system, billions of miles beyond Pluto, but astronomers still haven’t even confirmed if it really exists.
Shatner, who has not openly come out as conservative or liberal, has been a long-time supporter of many progressive causes including the fight against climate change and Canada’s universal healthcare system.
Now, the Emmy Award winner has apparently swung to the right, siding with MAGA supporters when it comes to President Trump’s authority to intervene in typically apolitical matters – like the renaming of mountains and bodies of water.
‘He renamed a Gulf and the Astronomer who discovered Pluto was American. Seems like America has jurisdiction on things outside its borders,’ Shatner explained on X.
William Shatner called on President Donald Trump to issue an executive order to restore Pluto’s status as a planet in our solar system
Shatner also took issue with scientists refusing to honor a public vote that chose the name Vulcan for one of Pluto’s moons
The actor cited Trump’s ability to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America while making the case for the White House to strip scientists of their naming privileges
Shatner is one of many people who still feels Pluto was undeservingly kicked out of our family of planets.Â
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has publicly agreed with the screen legend on this issue, writing on X in 2021: ‘Pluto is a planet. Fight me.’
In his fiery post, the sci-fi star declared that the scientists in charge of astronomical research were ‘just a bunch of corrupt nerds on a power trip’ and said it was time for Trump to end their ‘tyranny of the cosmos.’
Shatner spent Thursday night sparring with fans on X and suggested that Trump should step in make Pluto a planet again.Â
He even called on Musk, the so-called ‘first buddy,’ to convince Trump to sign an executive order giving Pluto back its status in the cosmos.
It’s a surprising turn for the actor, who recently criticized Trump for his continued attempts to purchase his home country of Canada.
In a recent interview with Bill Maher, the Shatner was baffled by the results of the 2024 presidential election.
‘I don’t know why Democrats lost. I don’t understand [it],’ he told Maher on the Club Random podcast.
DailyMail.com has reached out to Shatner for comment.
The TV star also called on Elon Musk, a friend of President Trump, to lobby the White House to make the change
Shatner has not publicly supported Donald Trump and also recently expressed surprise that Kamala Harris was not elected president in 2024
Shatner, the 1960s star of Star Trek, called members of the International Astronomical Union ‘idiots’ and ‘corrupt nerds’ after naming another reported planet in our solar system as the ninth planet
Shatner isn’t the first celebrity tied to the sciences to make a recent turn to the right.
His friend and noted scientist Neil Degrasse Tyson has been at the center of a liberal meltdown on social media after posting a picture with a red MAGA hat.
Tyson also posted recently about assault rifles and a recent trip to a shooting range with his wife, which drew the ire of the left on social media.
Shatner and Tyson are actually set to battle over the future of Pluto in June during a one-night show in Seattle.
Neil Degrasse Tyson and William Shatner are hosting an on-stage debate in June where they will argue over the future of Pluto as a planetÂ
Pluto was downgraded from the ninth planet to a dwarf planet in 2006, but a NASA expert and others have refused to accept the change. Former NASA chief Jim Bridenstine, Elon Musk, and William Shatner have all supported the cause of giving Pluto its planetary status backÂ
Tyson, an astrophysicist and director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York, has been a strong supporter of demoting Pluto from its status as a planet.
‘Pluto is not only different from the other planets, it’s part of a whole new family of objects,’ he argued in his book The Pluto Files.
However, Shatner has some major support in this controversy, including the former head of NASA.
In 2019, Jim Bridenstine refused to accept the change, claiming that Pluto was still the ninth planet because it has an ocean under its surface, organic compounds on its surface, and its own moons.
‘You can write that the NASA Administrator declared Pluto a planet once again. I’m sticking by that, it’s the way I learnt it, and I’m committed to it,’Â Bridenstine said at the University of Colorado Boulder in 2019.
Bridenstine led the space agency from 2018 to 2021 after being appointed to the position during President Trump’s first term in office. He’s criticized the IAU for having a ‘sloppy definition’ of what they consider a planet.
