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Arts & Entertainmentapril fools

George Takei Said He’s Running for Congress. But It Was Just a Joke

By
Olivia B. Waxman
Olivia B. Waxman
and
TIME
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April 1, 2017, 4:26 PM ET
2014 Winter TCA Tour - Day 13
Photo by Frederick M. Brown — Getty Images

Star Trek star George Takei may be a political activist, but he’s not going to run for office anytime soon.

An article published on The Daily Buzz revealed the “bombshell” that Takei was moving to California and buying a ranch-style home so that he could challenge U.S. Representative Devin Nunes in the 2018 midterm elections. Nunes, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, is under fire for turning over documents pertaining to Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election to White House officials before showing them to the Democrats on the committee.

Takei appeared to be in on the joke, tweeting “Let’s do this!” on Saturday morning, which also happens to be April Fool’s Day.

Well, the cat's out of the bag it seems. Let's do this! #Takei2018 https://t.co/Wf7qvV1eXj

— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) April 1, 2017

The article quotes Takei as saying: “People are tired of his a**-kissing of Trump. Can I say that? I think I can. These days you can say pretty much anything and not get in trouble.” And when the “reporter” asked him about his physical fitness for the job, Takei reportedly responded, “I still do 100 push-ups and sit-ups every morning, and I have family that has lived well past one hundred years.”

On top of all of that, the post even spells Devin as “Davin” — as if the article didn’t seem suspect to begin with.

As further proof that he’s not actually dipping his toes into politics, Takei then tweeted an endorsement of the candidate who is really running.

https://twitter.com/GeorgeTakei/status/848150976737542145/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Ftime.com%2F4721896%2Fgeorge-takei-congress-april-fools-day%2F

Takei, who has more than 10 million followers on social media, has long been an outspoken LGBTQ and political activist.

This article originally appeared on TIME.com

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