Twitter war erupts between William Shatner and #CHHSLetsTalk

CALGARY – Actor William Shatner got into a heated debate with supporters of a Calgary high school’s viral social media campaign.

#CHHSLetsTalk was an initiative by Grade 12 student Brett Rothery to raise money and awareness for the Canadian Mental Health Association.

Rothery convinced his Crescent Heights High School (CHHS) to donate five cents for every tweet, retweet, Instagram and Facebook post – up to $500.

One of the supporters tweeted Shatner asking for his support.

He declined to help the grassroots effort – pointing out it duplicated the efforts of an upcoming corporate campaign and CHHS had already reached its fundraising goals.

In his tweets Shatner says, “The ‘LetsTalk’ hastag campaign is a copycat of the Bell hashtag campaign that happens on 1/28.”

But the fact Shatner wouldn’t support the campaign prompted some angry tweets between supporters and the actor.

“Now I’ve supposedly tweeted horrible, rude things and deleted them according to some. The lies and immaturity of some of those that are backing this program are casting a dark shadow over what was supposed to be a good cause,” said Shatner.

Shatner did, however, congratulate the organizer on his efforts.

Rothery says he was in a physics exam when the Shatner tweets began to surface and found a deluge of them on his phone when he turned it back on.

“Because he had a negative response to what we were doing initially, people that were supporting my cause had a negative response, which, that’s never what this was about. It was always about mental health awareness.”

He says he understands Shatner was just trying to make sure the CHHS campaign was legit and hopes everyone will continue focusing on the true intent of the cause.

“I can’t believe that I’m even saying that William Shatner and I got into a dispute about anything. It’s sort of out of this world that I was even talking to him in the first place. I wish him the best even if he doesn’t want to support it. I absolutely 100% understand where he’s coming from.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "I can't believe that I'm even saying that William Shatner and I got into a dispute about anything. It's sort of out of this world that I was even talking to him in the first place. I wish him the best even if he doesn't want to support it. I absolutely 100% understand where he's coming from."

So far the CHHS hashtag has been tweeted nearly 50,000 times and continues to trend nationally.

The campaign has raised $2,500 and Rothery suggests thousands of dollars more have been raised on the side.

@WilliamShatner was also trending in Calgary on Wednesday night.