George Takei Is Not Running For Congress, But His April Fool’s Joke Includes An Important Endorsement
LGBTQ rights activist and groundbreaking actor George Takei shocked pretty much everyone when Takei announced that he was planning to run for Congress on Friday. Although a lot of us were excited about Takei’s intention to challenge California congressman Devin Nunes — the head of the House Intelligence Committee — for his seat in 2018, it turns out the announcement was only an April Fool’s Day joke. On Saturday, Takei confirmed via Twitter that he would not be pursuing the seat, tweeting, “No, I’m not running for Congress. Happy 4/1!” along with a selfie of him holding a sign that reads, “Gotcha!” So the dreams of Congressman Takei are on hold for now, but the actor used this opportunity to lend his support to another candidate who is running for election: Jon Ossoff, a Democrat who is running for Congress in a special election in Georgia.
The reason many people got excited about Takei’s announcement is because it seemed totally plausible. For those of you not familiar, Takei and his husband Brad Altman were recently rumored to have purchased a home in Visalia, California. Their decision to move away from Los Angeles confused many, because the city is the entertainment capital of the world, after all. Then on Friday, March 31, Takei told The Daily Buzz that they were moving so that he could run for office.
Takei explained,