NFL
By: Greg Rector
Marina Sirtis, who rose to fame playing Deanna Troi on Star Trek: The Next Generation, no longer uses social media.
I don’t blame her at all. Here, she was at another convention in Belgium last month. Sirtis explains why she no longer lives in the United States and why she no longer uses any social media. I only use Facebook and X and both mainly to stay in touch with people I care about like the folks I work with here at TEAMNBSMedia
Pardon the very poor captioning on this clip.
As everyone knows, I love the Liverpool Reds “Football Club.” At the same time, Marina Sirtis cheers for Tottenham Hotspurs. I first felt something special about Sirtis when she appeared at Comic-Cons and explained to her American audience that they must stop calling “Football” soccer. YES, YES, YES!!! Sirtis constantly complained about “American Football,” where only the kicker and punter kicked the football. She watched the NFL as she was a New York Jets fan.
I loved her portrayal of Counselor Troi on “The Next Generation” and her other roles, including playing the head of Mossad on NCIS. When “The Next Generation” started, I was a fan, unlike many others in 1987. Marina Sirtis was misused in the first season and almost fired from the show afterward. Thank goodness she had a special relationship with Majol Roddenberry, who played her mother on “The Next Generation.” Denise Crosby left the show, and Gates McFadden was also gone from season two.
I attended the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo in 2012. I met Marina Sirtis and the rest of the cast of “The Next Generation” as they celebrated the program’s 25th anniversary.
I always agreed that the Star Trek franchise misused the ladies on the show. However, Counselor Troi grew into a much better character as the seven seasons and, as she always said, the three-and-a-half films went on. This year at the Saturn Awards, Marina Sirtis was given a lifetime achievement award, which was very well deserved.
Marina Sirtis: Well, being that I am very dramatic, generally, I’d love to do more comedy. Because, in real life, I’m funny, right? Ask my friends. And I never get to be funny. So I would like to do—like in First Contact, I got to be funny. But I’m not complaining. I’m an actress.
Marina Sirtis is a superstar for millions of other “Trekkies” and me, and I am sad she no longer has a social media presence.
MARINA SIRTIS HUMANITARIAN GOALS
Like me, Sirtis loves animals, especially her dogs. She also despised the attack on women’s rights and truly despised the 45th President of the United States. She uses the man’s name, which I refuse to do. Her unapologetic nature was always inspiring to me. When she attacked the way Greece was being used as the transit stop for Syrian refugees while the rest of Europe was refusing to take in the refugees, she was 100% correct. At the time, her ancestral homeland was under the gun because of the nation’s finances. When she told the world how kind the Greek people were in seeing the shopkeepers putting out free food to feed the refugees, you just knew this lady’s place in this world would remain something I wouldn’t forget.
Her strength as an actress resonates even more with me, though. When she left Hollywood and even while still working there, she spoke about the absolute truth actresses dealt with before the “Me Too” movement. She suffered sexual harassment and has said it was a lot worse than that for her. When she was older and was the “Convention Queen,” she described how her weight always went around the middle section of her body and how she was considered obese in Hollywood circles.
Sirtis also loved the men and women who served in the United States military. If you ever saw her speak and cry after meeting a veteran known as “Feet,” a man who served in Afghanistan and lost both of his feet and suffered through more than 150 surgeries, as Sirtis and most of the cast from “The Next Generation,” as he described watching “The Next Generation,” which he credits for keeping him alive or if you ever saw Sirtis speak at the end of every Q&A session, she always said the same thing.
To all these sick bastards online who threatened to kill Marina Sirtis for speaking her mind on various issues, you are all cowards. Just like any other “cyberbully,” you all suck. This sixty-nine-year-old woman has something none of you ever will have: CLASS and DIGNITY.
Marina Sirtis, I hope you enjoy your time back in London, England. I also hope to meet you again, whether onstage or at Tottenham Hotspur Arena.
