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Star Trek legend George Takei is trying to convince right-wing bigots to stay home by claiming coronavirus turns people gay

George Takei

Actor George Takei is an outspoken critic of Donald Trump (Slaven Vlasic/Getty)

Former intergalactic helmsman and all-round nice guy George Takei has a genius solution to keep right-wing bigots at home: just convince them coronavirus turns you gay.

Takei, 83, makes no secret of his hatred for Donald Trump, and for the past few years he’s been using his platform of 2.9 million followers to highlight the glaring problems with his presidency.

As the US battles with the coronavirus pandemic Takei has been urging his followers to heed the advice of scientists, not the White House, and stay at home to protect the most vulnerable in society.

But for those who refuse to listen, Takei’s got another trick up his sleeve.

“I’m starting a rumour on the Breitbart chats that Covid-19 turns you gay,” he joked on Saturday. “That should keep a lot of these idiots at home.”

It appears the light-hearted dig didn’t go down well over at the far-right news site, which promptly published an article about Takei’s tweet, presumably to warn its more gullible readers.

“It remains unclear if Takei’s reference to ‘Breitbart chats’ was meant to refer to reader comments sections or potentially social media replies,” Breitbart said.

Since it seemed to strike a nerve, Takei’s followers joined in the fun by photoshopping dildos into the arms of the gun-toting protestors who stormed the Ohio statehouse on Friday.

While Takei couches much of his political opinions in humour, it gets results.

Last month he drew attention to the inexplicable requirement that those eligible for coronavirus testing must be US residents and able to speak and write in English. Less than 24 hours after he raised the issue, these requirements were removed from the COVID-19 screening criteria.

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