Star Trek: Voyager actor Robert Picardo threw some major shade at SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk for proposing a real-life Starfleet Academy
Starfleet Academy is the newest original series in the Star Trek franchise from CBS Studios and will feature Ricardo, known for playing Lewis Zimmerman, the creator of the Emergency Medical Hologram (EMH) in Voyager.
According to the Star Trek website, viewers of the new series will witness "a young group of cadets who come together to pursue a common dream of hope and optimism."
The fictional space academy in the sci-fi franchise is a part of Starfleet Training Command and serves as an officer training facility for those who wish to join Starfleet.
On Monday, Musk took to his platform X (formerly Twitter) and enthused:
"Let’s make Starfleet Academy real!"
Picardo shut down the notion and suggested Musk first consider the following before venturing further.
"First step: Support a leader that embodies Starfleet values like diversity, inclusion and ethical behavior."
The references to Starfleet's positive values were a dig at Musk's questionable ethics.
The billionaire investor, who once expressed a desire to colonize Mars and suggested people could travel to the Red Planet via his space rocket by 2029, is notorious for rejecting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) workplace initiatives.
He went as far as to claim on X that DEI ideology was "killing art" and puts the lives of your loved ones at risk."
On January 3, Musk also tweeted, "DEI, because it discriminates on the basis of race, gender and many other factors, is not merely immoral, it is also illegal."
Social media users thought Picardo's takedown of Musk was well played.
School was in session as cast and crew gathered this week to start production on the first season of Starfleet Academy.
The full cast was also announced.
The cadets attending the academy will be played by previously announced actors Sandro Rosta, Kerrice Brooks, Bella Shepard, George Hawkins, Karim Diané, and Zoë Steiner.
Holly Hunter was cast as the captain and chancellor of the Academy.
Additional cast members include Tig Notaro who is reprising her role as Jett Reno, guest stars Oded Fehr and Mary Wiseman, reprising their roles as Admiral Vance and Sylvia Tilly, and recurring guest stars Gina Yashere and Paul Giamatti.
The show may possibly debut on Paramount+ sometime in 2026.
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