​William Shatner: Why I didn't attend Leonard Nimoy's funeral

William Shatner took to Twitter to explain why he couldn't attend Leonard Nimoy's funeral on Sunday in Los Angeles.

He first posted a couple of tweets explaining the reason behind his absence, but after The New York Daily News dubbed the "Star Trek" actor "Captain Jerk" on its front page Sunday, Shatner used the social media platform to defend himself and his choice not to go.

Shatner, 83, said he had a prior commitment and went on to pay tribute to his friend in a series of tweets:

Shatner later asked his followers to share their memories of Nimoy, who died Friday of end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at age 83.

Shatner used the #LeonardNimoy hashtag to remember his friend and "Star Trek" co-star, noting in a touching tribute, "Leonard and I seemed to be bound by fate to be friends. We were born 4 days apart. He was tall, lanky and sometimes a bit too serious. We worked together previous to Star Trek, first impressions: nice guy, a real professional, took the job/role seriously."

He said, Nimoy was "intelligent, insightful, just a precious gem of a man," adding, "He took the role of Spock very seriously and I would try and get him to crack a smile while in his persona. It was hard to do." Through that, he says, "I learned to be more serious [and] I think he learned to be less."

When asked if Shatner had any regrets about the friendship," he responded, "That it couldn't have lasted a lot longer."