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Prepare for warp speed! LeVar Burton, the beloved actor of Reading Rainbow and Star Trek: The Next Generation fame, is in Portland.
“Portland… Kunta is in the house!” Burton tweeted, sharing a picture of oysters from Jake’s (and referring to Kunta Kinte, whom he played in the phenomenally popular 1977 miniseries adaptation of Alex Haley’s novel Roots). He added, “##bydhttmwfi” (”But you don’t have to take my word for it,” which, judging by his Twitter feed, is his all-time favorite hashtag).
Portland… Kunta is in the house! ##bydhttmwfi pic.twitter.com/aqxrbs8oAK
— LeVar Burton (@levarburton) September 9, 2022
Burton is one of several Star Trek celebrities in town this weekend to sign autographs, take photos, and appear on panels this weekend at Rose City Comic Con (the others are Anthony Rapp and Wilson Cruz of Star Trek: Discovery). The other famous franchise with Star in the title is also represented (by The Mandalorian’s Giancarlo Esposito and Lando Calrissian himself, Billy Dee Williams).
Burton has other ties to Portland. He teamed up with A Kids Company About, the Portland media startup behind books like A Kids Book About Systemic Racism, to create A Kids Book About Imagination.
2022 is an especially great time to be a Burton fan. Now that he appears to have made peace with the end of his effort to succeed Alex Trebek as the host of Jeopardy!, he’s moved on to other things, including returning to his Star Trek role of Geordi LaForge for the final season of Star Trek: Picard (which reunites him with other crewmembers of the Enterprise-D, including Patrick Stewart’s Jean-Luc Picard and Brent Spiner’s Data).