The Embarrassing Incident William Shatner Experienced Promoting Star Trek

When actors head out into the world to promote their latest project, whether it's a feature film or a new television show, they meet a lot of people. These days, it seems that celebrities are peppered with inappropriate questions by interviewers, some of whom confuse them with another celebrity, or they have to sit and answer the same questions repeatedly. It's a necessary step in getting the word out, though it can be a slog.

Today, you can rely on social media and thousands of cable channels, but it wasn't always like that. Actors had to travel, appearing in local broadcast shows, sitting with entertainment journalists, and venturing into unknown territories to sell their project. This was especially true in 1967, when William Shatner was making the rounds promoting his latest show, "Star Trek: The Original Series."

As the de facto ensemble lead Captain Kirk, most of the promotional duties fell to Shatner, as he was the face of the series before the frenzy over the seemingly emotionless Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy, who almost quit over that detail) struck the fledgling fandom. While Shatner did his duty and appeared wherever he was sent, one incident in 1967 ended in anger, although it's amusing to look back on it. While guest-hosting a kids' show in South Carolina, a child sitting in his lap had an accident. As any mall Santa would tell you, these things happen. For Shatner, getting peed on by a kid who wasn't his, was an embarrassing experience.

In March 2021, journalist Frank Beacham wrote about the story in the Columbia Star in honor of William Shatner's 90th birthday. Beacham was the main cameraman on the South Carolina kid's show "Mr. Knozit" at the time, and he witnessed the embarrassing event while Shatner was guest-hosting. The gig was meant to promote "Star Trek" to the local community, and Shatner took over for the series' regular host, Joe Pinner, after they appeared together in the show's opening.

Shatner interviewed a group of children, each one sitting in his lap as he asked questions, when the unthinkable happened. While a little girl was in the hot seat, she peed all over Shatner's leg. Beacham wrote, "The on-air look of horror on Shatner's face was hilarious." Sadly, no known copies of the video exist. There's only a single photograph taken before the incident available, featuring a different, non-wet child. After cutting to commercial, Shatner stormed up to Beacham and angrily exclaimed, "I didn't sign up for this!"

While the accident was no doubt hilarious to onlookers, he handled it like a pro after his initial outburst. He calmed down and continued to interview the children. Beacham recalled it as the television moment he always remembered about the star, which is saying something given how much work the actor has under his belt — and the amount of infamy Shatner has among co-stars tired of working with him. That same year, Shatner appeared on a different kids' show with Indiana's "Harlow Hickenlooper," along with many other programs. Only "Mr. Knozit" left him peed upon, and only Shatner's coworkers know how much they'd pay for that lost tape.