TORONTO — Canadian actor William Shatner took to Twitter over the weekend to explain why he couldn’t be at the funeral of his longtime friend, and Star Trek co-star, Leonard Nimoy.
The 83-year-old Montreal native came under fire for attending a fundraising event in Florida instead of attending Nimoy’s funeral in Los Angeles.
Nimoy died Friday of end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
“I am currently in FL as I agreed to appear at the Red Cross Ball tonight,” Shatner tweeted on Saturday. “Leonard’s funeral is tomorrow. I can’t make it back in time.”
The New York Daily News called Shatner “Captain Jerk” on its front page. Shatner responded to his 2.1 million Twitter followers.
Shatner spent some time Sunday remembering and celebrating Nimoy on Twitter.
“Leonard and I seemed to be bound by fate to be friends,” he wrote. “We were born 4 days apart.”
He added: “He was tall, lanky and sometimes a bit too serious. We worked together previous to Star Trek, first impressions: nice guy, a real professional, took the job/role seriously.”
Shatner answered questions from fans about his friendship with Nimoy.
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