George Takei (Christopher Polk/Getty)

George Takei has revealed he once had an animated argument with Donald Trump about same-sex marriage.

The Star Trek actor, who appeared on Trump’s reality show The Celebrity Apprentice, spoke to Yahoo about his time on the show in 2012, and decision to confront Trump about the issue.

Takei explained to Yahoo: “Donald Trump had made a statement about his being opposed to marriage equality.

“We had a press conference to promote the show, and I wanted to talk to him about it and put him on record publicly in front of the collected press there.

“At the end of the press conference, I said, ‘Mr Trump, I’d like to invite you to have lunch with me,’ fully expecting him to demurr and say ‘I’m too busy’. He surprised me and said, ‘let’s have this discussion.’

“I said, ‘Mr Trump, you’re a business man – you have hotels and restaurants. People would love to come to New York, get married there, stay in your hotels, eat in your restaurants, maybe even have their ceremony in one of your banquet rooms. It would be a great economic benefit to you.’

“He said, yeah, ‘that’s true, but I believe in traditional marriage.’

“[He was on his] third marriage, and all through those marriages he was famously unfaithful, but I’m trying to sell him, so I said, ‘yes, and I believe in traditional marriage too. Traditional marriage is two people who love eachother deeply and profoundly and want to spend their lives with eachother.’

“He said, ‘no, no, no, it’s a man and a woman.’ We went back and forth and agreed to disagree about what traditional marriage means.”

Trump repeatedly flip-flopped on LGBT rights before his Presidential bid, but shifted hard to the right as anti-LGBT Republican Mike Pence and hardline evangelicals took a growing role in his campaign.

Takei has been a vocal critic of Trump’s record since the Republican came to office.

Last year when Trump imposed a ban on transgender troops, Takei said: “To those who believed Trump would be a friend to LGBTs, time to admit you were conned.”

He added: “History shall record that you are not only the stupidest, most incompetent president ever, but also the cruelest and pettiest.

“Donald: With your ban on trans people from the military, you are on notice that you just pissed off the wrong community. You will regret it.”

Takei himself came under scrutiny earlier this year when a man accused him of sexual assault – but the accuser later walked back and changed several key elements of his story.