Whoopi Goldberg thinks Star Trek did a huge amount of good for black people in Hollywood.
The 70-year-old actress played Guinan in the sci-fi series Star Trek: The Next Generation between 1988 and 1993, and Whoopi thinks the franchise has had a huge impact in Hollywood.
Discussing the impact of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, Whoopi told Extra: "Gene had an idea, you know, of a way to have people recognise the differences.
"We can work through them, so he put all these people on this sci-fi show that he didn’t realise, you know, that for kids like me … I love science fiction. There is no science fiction movies that had black people in it."
Whoopi recalled a specific conversation that she had with Gene about representation.
The actress shared: "When I went to talk to him, he didn’t believe I wanted to do Next Generation. He said, ‘Why do you?'
"I said, ‘Because, you know, Lieutenant Uhura was the first time I was sure we were going to be in the future.’ He said, ‘What do you mean?’
"I said, ‘You know, there’s no black people in the future in any of these movies.’ He said, ‘That can’t be true.’ I said, ‘It is.’ He said, ‘Well,’ and we went on to have our meeting.
"He said, ‘I’m going to see what I can find.’ He called me about a week later and said, ‘I’m shocked to tell you this, but you’re right.’ I said, ‘Yeah, you were it. Thanks.’"
Despite this, Whoopi wasn't aware of the impact she was having while she was on Star Trek: The Next Generation, which also starred the likes of Sir Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, Michael Dorn, LeVar Burton, Marina Sirtis, Gates McFadden, Denise Crosby, and Wil Wheaton.
The Hollywood star said: "You’re just doing the show. You have no idea that you’re giving life and hope to some weird little kid who wants to be an actor."
