William Shatner is being sued for $170 million by a 59-year-old radio DJ, who claims that the actor is his biological father.
Peter Sloan, who filed the lawsuit in a Florida court, claims that he was the fruit of his mother, Canadian actress Kathy McNeil, and the "Star Trek" actor's affair, which they had while they were working together in Toronto. The actress gave him up for adoption five days after he was born.
However, the 85-year old actor has denied Sloan's claims, stating that the radio host's lawsuit is nothing more than an unfair attempt to profit from the connection.
According to court documents, Sloan and Shatner met when the actor was filming for "T.J. Hooker" in California in 1984 and at the time, Shatner acknowledged him as his son.
However, a week later, when Sloan contacted his alleged father, Shatner hung up on him. A few days later, Sloan received a phone call from the actor's rep who said Shatner will deny paternity and will not take a DNA test.
The lawsuit alleges that Shatner's rep also told Sloan not to say a word about their relationship to anyone as it could have a "horrendous" effect on the actor's career.
Sloan's lawsuit states that he met Shatner again 25 years later at a public meet-and-greet event, after which he changed his name to Peter Shatner and started using the name on a local CBS radio show he hosted and also on his website.
Sloan says he requested another paternity test from Shatner in 2011, but received the following response from his legal representative: "[Shatner] confirmed to me once again that he is not your father. There have been many people over the years who have claimed to be his children or other relatives. He is an incredibly busy, eighty year-old man, and is not interested in spending time discussing this issue with you or any such individuals."
Sloan also alleges in the suit that Shatner had Twitter shut down his account and that Shatner was also responsible for IMDb Pro's removal of a page about a project he was working on. He is seeking $90 million in punitive damages, $50 million for pain and suffering and $30 million in compensatory damages.
