Patriot Brief
- A Star Trek actress said fan backlash is pushing the franchise to embrace a more openly “woke” identity.
- Critics, including a White House official, argue the series is alienating longtime fans.
- The show’s creators have dismissed criticism as hostility rather than audience dissatisfaction.
At this point, the reaction is less outrage than weary recognition.
A cast member on the latest Star Trek series is now openly saying that fan backlash isn’t a warning sign — it’s motivation. The criticism, she argues, is proof the franchise should lean even harder into what she proudly calls its “super woke” identity.
That actress is Gina Yashere, who plays Lura Thok on Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, a new series streaming on Paramount+. After sharing a clip from Bill Maher discussing backlash against the show, Yashere unloaded on Instagram, dismissing critics as “fragile, angry White men” and declaring the response made her want to “lean even more into our wokeness.”
That framing has become familiar. Disagreement isn’t disagreement; it’s pathology. Viewers who question creative direction aren’t longtime fans expressing frustration — they’re treated as demographic problems to be managed or mocked.
Maher’s segment centered on comments from Stephen Miller, who criticized the franchise for abandoning its core audience and suggested returning creative control to William Shatner. Whether one agrees with Miller or not, his criticism reflects something that can’t be waved away with Instagram slogans: audience scores have dropped, and fan dissatisfaction has become a recurring issue across legacy franchises.
Yashere, for her part, isn’t backing off. She embraced the label outright, calling herself a “space lesbian” and mocking critics with “Wokey wokey. Super woke. Wokest of the woke!” She also defended the show on CNN, arguing that Star Trek has always been “woke,” redefining the term as simply being “awake and aware.”
That argument misses the point many fans are making. The original Star Trek pushed boundaries, but it did so through storytelling, not self-congratulation. Its social commentary was embedded in narrative, not delivered as a branding exercise. There’s a difference between exploring ideas and daring the audience to object.
What’s striking is how little curiosity remains about why viewers are walking away. Instead of asking whether the balance between message and story has tipped too far, the response is defiance — double down, taunt the critics, and treat backlash as validation.
We’ve seen this play out before. Disney’s Star Wars: The Acolyte followed a similar path, with creators leaning into identity-first messaging even as audience enthusiasm declined. The pattern is hard to miss: criticism isn’t feedback, it’s fuel.
At some point, franchises stop being stories and start becoming lectures — and lectures, no matter how passionately delivered, rarely keep an audience coming back.
From Fox News:
A "Star Trek" actress says conservative backlash is pushing the franchise to lean harder into what she calls its "super woke" identity. Among the critics is White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, who has accused the franchise of abandoning its core audience.
Gina Yashere, who plays Lura Thok in the new Paramount+ series "Star Trek: Starfleet Academy," responded online after sharing a clip from comedian Bill Maher’s show that touched on the controversy.
"All of the hatred coming at us is from fragile, angry White men, talking about either our non-whiteness or our bodies," Yashere wrote Sunday in an Instagram post.
"It's frankly ridiculous. And it makes me want to lean even more into our wokeness," she added.
Maher’s segment focused on comments Miller made on X, calling the show "tragic" and suggesting creative control be handed to William Shatner.
Miller has been among critics online who have questioned the show’s emphasis on diversity, including varied body types, ethnicities and sexual orientations.
In the series, Yashere’s character is in a same-sex relationship with Tig Notaro’s Jett Reno. Yashere also addressed her sexuality in Sunday’s post.
The series has faced fan backlash over alleged "woke" content, even as critics have issued strong reviews and audience scores have declined during ongoing debates. (Screenshot/Paramount+ Youtube)
"I was practically born wearing a tool belt," she said, adding, "But if you could choose your sexuality, why would we choose men?"
Later, she referred to herself on the show as a "space lesbian," adding: "We woke. Wokey wokey. Super woke. Wokest of the woke!"
Photo Credit: Taylor Hill/FilmMagic