In the end it doesn't really matter. If you are a public figure and the mob decides you did something "wrong" then your brand is tarnished and you're no longer employable.
The generally protected Takei spent
decades in interviews, talk shows, conventions and anywhere else trying to trash Shatner (like the WOK "lines" lie), not just as a brand (the associated end result), but as
a human being , so one could argue that he's getting a dose of his own medicine, only in Takei's case, if true, it is not based on jealously and career envy, but sickening abuses.
It's kind of arbitrary who has been given second chances (think Robert Downey Jr, Mel Gibson, Arnold) and who hasn't (anyone seen Michael Richards lately?).
You already have individuals trying to dismiss or undercut the gravity of sexual abuse in general, and specifically where Takei is concerned, so "second chances" or more to the point, an attempt to erase the accusation from human knowledge--is already happening.
Looks like Shatner was right for blowing off the 2nd bananas as he's reputed for having done during The Original Series' run ...
Takei was just some day player who let convention noise go to his head, along with the Roddenberry-created myth of the "Star Trek family" as if they were some like-minded pack living the dream of a fictional TV series long after being cancelled. No one promised him a larger role, and the audience--during its NBC years--were not demanding
"more Sulu! More Takei!" It would be as silly a thought (or actor-created sense of entitlement) as Stafford Repp--the actor behind the 60s
Batman's Chief O'Hara--suddenly demanding more of a presence beyond the built-in limits of his supporting role, or attacking Adam West & Burt Ward for not getting more lines, and being the true draw of the series.
His thinking he deserved a "Sulu Trek" leaves any Shatner-ego BS in the dust.
