William Shatner calls out N.Y. Daily News for Nimoy funeral headline

March 1, 2015 3:10 PM PT

William Shatner is fighting back after the New York Daily News posted on Twitter an early look at its Sunday cover, which called the actor “Captain Jerk” for not attending the funeral of fellow “Star Trek” actor Leonard Nimoy.

“Claims night event in Florida means he can’t ‘beam up’ to L.A. in time,” the front page said.

On Sunday, Shatner tweeted a picture of the Daily News cover to his more than 2 million followers. “I want to share this. Let’s discuss it,” he wrote. After people tweeted back at him -- many positive, others negative -- Shatner defended his decision not to attend the funeral.

FULL COVERAGE of the death of Leonard Nimoy

“So my daughters Melanie and Lisabeth are attending Leonard’s services,” he wrote. “I chose to honor a commitment I made months ago to appear at a charitable fundraiser. A lot of money was raised. So here I am; tell me off.”

The slew of Shatner tweets comes just a day after the actor used Twitter to express his regrets for not attending the funeral. Nimoy, 83, died Friday of end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

In response to people who expressed anger toward Shatner for not flying to Los Angeles, the actor wrote: “One of the other misconceptions seems to be that folks think flights to LAX occur all night long.”

He then used the social media platform to share his memories of Nimoy and answer questions from his followers about the late actor using the hashtag “#leonardnimoy.”

In the last of the tweets, Shatner again addresses N.Y. Daily News after the publication tweeted: “@WilliamShatner wants to “discuss” our Sunday front page.”

Shatner replied: “You know what I find puzzling. The headline is horrible but the article contradicts it.”

For more news on the entertainment industry, follow me @saba_h