George Takei apologizes for joking to Howard Stern about “touching men,” says he was playing a “naughty gay grandpa”

ABC News

The Star Trek icon, who has been sitting in on the Stern show for a few days a year since 2006, is sorry that his Oct. 16 comments about touching men without permission were misconstrued following last week's groping allegation. Takei explains on Facebook that he was actually joking. “For decades,” Takei writes, “I have played the part of a ‘naughty gay grandpa’ when I visit Howard’s show, a caricature I now regret. But I want to be clear: I have never forced myself upon someone during a date. Sometimes my dates were the initiators, and sometimes I was. It was always by mutual consent. I see now that that it has come across poorly in the awkward sketch, and I apologize for playing along with Howard’s insinuation.”