Star Trek actor has perfect response to Elon Musk pitching a 'real-life' Starfleet Academy

Many have resigned themselves to the fact that Twitter/X has become a hellscape under Elon Musk, but the social media platform still offers up some incredible viral moments - such as its controversial owner being shut down in quite an epic fashion from Star Trek actor Robert Picardo.

Musk, who has quite the obsession with space travel given he’s the boss of SpaceX, floated the idea of making “Starfleet Academy real” on Twitter/X earlier this week - Starfleet Academy being an upcoming series in the Star Trek franchise which began production on Monday.

A description of the show on StarTrek.com says it will introduce “viewers to a young group of cadets who come together to pursue a common dream of hope and optimism” and “discover what it takes to become Starfleet officers”.

Essentially, Musk thinks there should be a real-life academy to train up space explorers, with the billionaire agreeing with one user who said it “sounds like fun program to train people for making life multiplanetary”.

Musk has long expressed a desire to colonise Mars in the future, and previously suggested that 2029 would be the year that humans make it to the Red Planet using his Starship rocket – which has had a series of test flights across 2023 and 2024.

And after indulging himself in some Star Trek-inspired ideas, one actor from the sci-fi franchise waded in to put Musk in his place.

Robert Picardo, who played the Doctor in Star Trek: Voyager (and, according to Variety, will reprise this role in Starfleet Academy) replied: “First step: support a leader that embodies Starfleet values like diversity, inclusion and ethical behaviour.”

.For context, Musk has repeatedly attacked plans to diversify workplaces – namely in the form of ‘diversity, equity and inclusion’ or DEI – going so far as to claim it “kills art” and “puts the lives of your loved ones at risk”.

In a tweet posted in January, he wrote: “DEI, because it discriminates on the basis of race, gender and many other factors, is not merely immoral, it is also illegal.”

Following Picardo’s intervention, other Twitter/X users have shared GIFs from the show and references to praise what they describe as an “intense burn” of Musk:

One user described him as a “true Star Trek legend”:

We suspect Musk might need some ‘space’ to process this burn (sorry).

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