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Why Lil’ Kirk Was Listening to the Beastie Boys



One of the complaints nerds have about the new J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek movie is the very odd use of the Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage” when young Kirk is driving his stepdad’s classic car off a cliff. Although I liked the movie, I did think it was odd to hear such a well-known, popular song in Star Trek. Well, TR commenter PossibleMisnomer has an idea why the song was used, and I think he’s 100% right — it’s because William Shatner has a long history of mispronouncing the word sabotage as “sabo-taj.” Watch the above video, and you can even hear him refusing to admit his pronunciation is wrong (during some kind of voice work), and then him saying “sabo-taj” back in his Trek TV days. I am 100% convinced Abrams used the song as a nod to this, and now I think it’s awesome and hilarious.