New ‘Star Trek’ DEI disaster flops despite airing for free: A ‘huge, gay, glee club middle finger’

Paramount Plus gave away a very expensive product for free.

After reports that “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy” cost between $10 million and $20 million per episode to produce, the network bizarrely posted the entirety of its premiere episode on YouTube, likely in hopes of garnering interest from a wider audience.

‘He goes to Starfleet Academy, makes a ton of friends, and they help him be OK with who he is.’

However the typically popular franchise hardly made a big splash, with just over 85,000 views in the first 24 hours. While the city-sized viewership would be nothing to scoff at for an independent operation, reviewers were shocked by the numbers, revealing that during its premiere, the show allegedly hit a peak of just 1,316 concurrent viewers.

Set phasers to ‘slay’

The show has been heavily criticized for its obvious diversity push, with sci-fi author Brad Torgersen even calling it a “huge, gay, glee club middle finger to everyone who liked” the franchise, back in December. Torgersen blamed “theater kids” for ruining the franchise as well.

Since its debut, it has become even more apparent how deep the production went down the diversity rabbit hole. One scene was described as cadets being “required to get DEI training.” In the scene, an instructor tells her students that being in the academy means “being open to the people around you” as a student is questioning his colleagues’ identities.

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Photo by Taylor Hill/FilmMagic

The instructor is played by actress Tig Notaro, whose real name is Mathilde O’Callaghan Notaro.

Notaro has previously described seeing her 5-year-old son in rainbow-colored clothing — particularly for gay pride — as “incredible” and even apologized for not being active in gender politics until it affected her.

Space cadet

Series creator Alex Kurtzman has not shied away from revealing the show’s devotion to diversity either.

“I think we’re not slowing down on representation in any way,” Kurtzman said according to Comic Book Club. “We’re certainly planning like representation is at the beating heart of [‘Star Trek’ creator] Roddenberry’s vision, and we’ve already done the work of bringing it to that new place.”

“So there’s really no reason to change course there,” he added.

The cast of characters also has an obvious and plainly stated agenda. The same outlet reports that a new lesbian couple will be introduced in the series, and the Klingon character, played by actor Karim Diane, will have his sexuality “explored.”

Here to make friends

Diane alluded to as much in a recent interview posted on the show’s official Instagram page.

“He doesn’t like to battle. He wants to love people and heal people and save people,” he said about his character. “He goes to Starfleet Academy, makes a ton of friends, and they help him be OK with who he is.”

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Other cast members include Zoe Steiner, who has shown up nearly nude to press junkets, and even late-night host Stephen Colbert.

Colbert announced his participation in the series in October and appears in 10 episodes as the Digital Dean of Students, which serves as a comic relief voiceover. He has already been mocked for his “absolute cringe” voice work in at least one scene.

Before the show aired, it was picked up for a second season by Paramount Plus.

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