Star Trek actor Karim Diane has spoken out on the meaningful representation that Starfleet Academy brought to television. Diane recently appeared on Trek Talks, the annual online telethon to support Hollywood Food Coalition, alongside fellow star Kerrice Brooks (SAM) and moderator Cirroc Lofton (Jake Sisko from Deep Space Nine) to discuss a range of topics pertaining to Starfleet Academy, including the meaningful representation the show brought to television.
Diane, who played Jay-Den Kraag, the first gay Klingon in Star Trek history, was candid about the backlash he received for portraying the first gay Klingon in Star Trek, but pointed out that the franchise has "always ruffled feathers" and noted the importance of inclusion.
“Star Trek has always ruffled feathers, is what I’m understanding. Like from day one, from the very first episode, you know, the point of Star Trek is to ruffle feathers, is is to stretch people’s minds and make space for everyone. Every single human being on this planet has a seat at this Star Trek table.”
The young actor admitted there was some negative feedback, but the support he has gotten has been far greater.
“My DMs are flooded with so much support from from all kinds of people, not just queer people, but also straight people and trans people and just Black people, white people, Asian people, like people from all across the world, have slid into my DMs to tell me how much this character means to them … That’s been awesome, but, yeah, there also has been a lot of weird stuff, like scary messages. Honestly, some people have responded to this violently, and that really tells me that we’re actually doing exactly what we’re supposed to be doing, truly, because the point of Star Trek is to kind of, like, push that needle forward.”
Although it sometimes feels like the negativity often outweighs the positivity we see online, Diane shared an emotional message he received from a fan that really stuck with him.
“There’s one specific message that I can’t get out of my head … this teacher who wrote me and said … that one of his students watches Starfleet Academy, and that he’s never felt himself represented on TV before, because he is tall and he has a large stature, and he’s dark-skinned and he’s Black, and people expect him to be this, like, rough and tough kind of guy, but he’s not. He’s a really sweet young queer kid … I’m excited by what we’re all doing by introducing these different characters, it’s really like opening up the room for more people to come in and feel included.”
Although Starfleet Academy has officially been canceled, it's still getting one more season, which has already been films. So this isn't the last we've seen of Jay-Den, and hopefully we get more impactful scenes with the beloved character.
Following the show's cancellation announcement, Karim Diane took to social media to address the ews, while responding to the backlash of his character with humor and pride. Leaning into the criticism, he described Season 2 as "GAY AF," promising to be "EVEN LOUDER and more annoying about this beautiful gay Klingon."