Between his roles on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Big Bang Theory, actor Wil Wheaton's nerd credentials are pretty solid. As such, we weren't at all surprised to see the Stand By Me star own his nerdom while speaking at the Denver Comic-Con last year. We just didn't expect the speech to be so heartwarming.
The video below shows Wheaton responding to a young girl's question as to whether he was called a nerd as a kid, and how he dealt with it. "When I was a little boy I was called a nerd all the time," he admitted. "I didn't like sports, I loved to read, I liked math and science, I thought school was really cool.... And, [the name-calling] hurt a lot. It's never okay when a person makes fun of you for something that you didn't choose. We don't choose to be nerds. We can't help it that we like these things. We shouldn't apologize for liking these things."
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As the crowd cheered him on, the '90s star continued: "I wish there was an easy way to just not care," Wheaton told the girl. "But, the truth is that it hurts.... When a person makes fun of you, or is cruel to you, it has nothing to do with you. It's not about what you said, it's not about what you did, it's not above what you love. It's about them feeling bad about themselves."
His parting remark? "It absolutely gets better as you get older." No argument there.
Hopefully, that's just the sort of pep talk the young audience member needed. We certainly feel better! (The Wrap)