OutlanderBTS Spotlight on Giving: Win Shirt Signed by Sam for $5.00;Celeb Fan William Shatner

Photo: Bill and Sam at Bill’s horse charity event in 2016

I love Bill Shatner. 

Why? You ask. Am I a Star Trek fan? No. Though when I was a kid, my brother was a huge Star Trek fan, and Captain Kirk was a constant on our living room TV screen. I do remember having a crush on Scotty (foreshadowing? ?). And for what it’s worth, the actor who played Scotty was actually Canadian with Irish parents.

No, my love of Bill Shatner was born, like so many other things for me lately, through Outlander. As an active and avid fan, I have “gotten to know” Bill by following him and communicating with him on Twitter. My own father will be 85 at the end of this month, and Bill is 86. They remind me A LOT of each other, and I love my Dad, so I have a natural fondness for Bill. I also respect him. He is a very hard worker and tireless supporter of what he believes in.

Each year for the last 27, Bill has organized and run a Hollywood Charity Horse Show. An accomplished equestrian himself, and a master networker, Bill asks his Hollywood friends and acquaintances to donate signed memorabilia to be auctioned off for this event. Now the auction is available online, and since Bill is both fan and friend of Outlander, there are some cool items to be had; chief among them is this Outlander Real Men Wear Kilts shirt, signed on both sides by Sam…

Last year Sam donated a workout shirt that was featured in the silent auction. As you can imagine, the price skyrocketed out of most people’s range very quickly. This year, Bill opted to raffle the shirt instead so everyone can participate. The cost is just $5.00. You have the option to buy 1 ticket for $5.00, 6 for $25.00 or 25 tickets for $100.00. The money goes to a variety of organizations, many of which provide equine therapy for disables kids. Made possible by benefactor support,100% of the monies raised goes to the recipients. To read the story of how Bill started this annual charity, CLICK HERE

 

It’s really easy (I just bought mine, so I know). You click on the link: OUTLANDER SHIRT SIGNED BY SAM and pick the number of tickets you want to buy: 1, 6, or 25, and then you will need to create an account (very simple) and input your cc info. That’s it. If you do buy some tickets, will you please do me a favor and put OutlanderBTS.com in the notes? I would really appreciate that!   

To see the additional Outlander items being auctioned, CLICK HERE. Bidding ends June 4th.

 

This is the second year that OutlanderBTS.com has participated in Bill’s charity drive, but I’ll get to that in a minute. First, how in the world did William Shatner become involved with Outlander in the first place?? ?

We all know what it is to be an Outlander fan, right? ? Although celeb lives are more public than most of ours, at the end of the day celebs are just regular people who face the same challenges we all face as humans. And, they become as passionate as the rest of us about Outlander (apparently).

For William Shatner, it all started with a twitter exchange on Sam’s birthday in 2015 (there’s that Outlander effect again…) about voting for Colin O’Donoghue who was up against Sam for Alpha Male Madness…

and it resumed in September that year, prompted by a Girl On Top Battle between Arrow actress Emily Bett Rickards and Caitriona, where he professes to not even know what Outlander is (can you imagine??).

And Bill Shatner, being Bill Shatner: the hippest, most with it, energetic, productive (then, 84, and now) 86-year-old I know of, checked it out and gave his review the next day.

And then, he met Diana… ?

Well, that was the start, and a few days later Sam was in on the tweets…

Connections were made…

questions were asked…

Charities were supported…

Jokes were made…

and full banter ensued…

Meet ups were discussed…

Seeds were planted…

Bill started tweeting with more of the cast…

And by the premier of Season 2 in April 2016, Bill was not only an Outlander convert, he was something of a zealot. He even made the effort to meet Sam…

“I had dinner with William Shatner last week and I couldn’t believe it. He’s a fan of the show,” revealed star Sam Heughan at the show’s Season 2 premiere on Monday night. “He’s really funny, and I owe him dinner now. I still can’t believe I met him!” Source: Vanity Fair 

Bill started following the cast and crew of the show, and being quite an advocate…

Bill even put in his 2 cents for casting!

By May, Bill was smitten with Diana too (who isn’t?)…

and by June, Bill and Sam were friends.

Sam made good on his promise and donated a t-shirt to Bill’s annual horseshow.org charity, and even attended the event and watched Bill and his wife ride in LA last year. Bill talked about his bromance with Sam in an interview on Larry King Now. (PS, I used to live in Washington DC and went to the same stylist as Larry King- Larry say hi to Bernard for me if he’s still your guy!)

 

Here is Sam wearing the shirt he donated to the charity auction last year…

and Bill got familiar enough with the show to make Laoghaire jokes ?

Then Bill upped the ante…

My friend Andrea was the lucky winner of said t-shirt…

Sam just after the event…

Here is Sam sporting that Stetson…

Photo by Paul Camuso

I actually participated in the 2016 charity event too. I rented Bill’s Twitter avatar (image representing someone on a social media forum) for one hour, which was great fun.

Bill had just had a brief falling out with Stephen Walters, and he was constantly making fun of Sam for wearing a “skirt,” swearing he would never be caught dead in one. And, Sam had just had his day as a cowboy, so…

So for one hour, Bill’s avi looked like this: ?

That’s the other reason I love Bill, he’s FUN and a good sport.

Years ago I worked as a wrangler for a few weeks with a bunch of hunky guys at a guest ranch, and we did a silly photo shoot; this was the original photo for the photo shopped avatar… (hands down the best job I’ve ever had, by the way).

But I digress…

After the charity event, Bill changed his Twitter avatar (also called an avi, for short) to a pic of Sam and him, and even began promoting Sam as the next James Bond. Here’s a clip about that (right on Caitriona!!)…

 

and Bill continued to make new Outlander cast friends…

https://twitter.com/LacroixDuncan/status/737329764516691969

and reconnect with old ones…

and 

(by the way I have another Outlander synchronous event- years ago my oldest brother won a walk on role for Deep Space Nine, which Ira Steven Behr wrote it turns out, here’s an old still of that…

Unfortunately, around the time of the charity event in 2016, there was an increase of cyber bulling, which Bill dealt with head on as a full fledged leader in the fandom…

He continued his support…

and met new Outlander friends…

https://twitter.com/donnellylaura1/status/755677809134239744

https://twitter.com/donnellylaura1/status/755781082327478272

He kept watching…

and was very interested in the goings on at the Starfury Highlanders Fan Convention which took place in London in August 2016. I covered that convention HERE and put together a little piece on his funny tweets about the convention here: Bill’s London Extra.

Bill has continued to go out of his way to promote and advocate for Sam, Diana, Cait, and the show….

He even knows when Outlander DVD’s go on sale!

And finally Bill is gearing up for this year’s charity…

And we’re full circle. Please consider supporting Bill’s charity (and possibly winning an OUTLANDER SHIRT SIGNED BY SAM! Bidding ends June 4th.

As always, thanks for visiting 🙂

 

6 comments on “OutlanderBTS Spotlight on Giving: Win Shirt Signed by Sam for $5.00;Celeb Fan William Shatner

  1. Such an enjoyable roundup! Thanks for the dizzying timeline view about Bill becoming as smitten with the show as we are. He’s a powerhouse and tremendously loyal.

  2. Thanks for the magnificent timeline! So grateful to Mr Shatner for his Outlander support! I made sure to buy some raffle tickets .

  3. Love it, Courtney! I had forgotten about the beginning- before the trolls.

    Charity makes everything worthwhile. Many celebs do sweet #$#$ all. xxoo

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