For many Star Trek actors, fan conventions are an important source of income. So when the SAG-AFTRA actors’ strike kicked in, it raised questions about how to navigate the summer convention circuit.
The long-running STLV convention ultimately went ahead last week, featuring a massive guest list of Trek actors. However, SAG-AFTRA members couldn’t discuss their TV and movie work in a promotional context.
As a result, the convention included events like a William Shatner panel where he avoided talking about Star Trek, and a Spock actor meetup where the two actors (Ethan Peck and Zachary Quinto) didn’t discuss Spock.
But one actor is facing backlash for seemingly breaking the rules onstage. During a panel on Sunday, several fans reported that Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Prodigy actor Robert Beltran (Chakotay) was intentionally flouting SAG-AFTRA strike guidelines:
This behavior attracted a lot of criticism from fans, especially since many other Trek actors publicly support the strikes. Star Trek: Picard‘s Michelle Hurd is a member of the actors’ union negotiating committee, and helped “carve out a dispensation” for actors to attend conventions like STLV. Some other current Trek actors have been on the picket lines for weeks.
To put it bluntly, Robert Beltran isn’t famous enough for his behavior to cause a scandal like Stephen Amell or Zachary Levi‘s anti-strike remarks. But within Star Trek fandom, this was very controversial. Beltran then added further fuel to the fire by agreeing with a tweet that decried queer and trans Trek fans:
Beltran obviously has some supporters who disapprove of the Hollywood strikes. Like any fandom, Star Trek has its own political divides. But his behavior at STLV has clearly alienated a lot of fans, with some even calling for him to be banned from future conventions.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Robert Beltran’s representatives for comment.
