Neil deGrasse Tyson, the astrophysicist and “Cosmos” host who has been a frequent critic of President Donald Trump, is now under investigation after being accused of sexual misconduct by three women.
The latest accusations were published by journalist David McAfee on the religious news site Patheos on Thursday. The report details the fresh allegations of two of Tyson’s former colleagues, who claim that Tyson made unwanted advances, among other inappropriate behavior. Earlier, another woman accused Tyson of rape — but she has not received much attention until now.
New allegations
Dr. Katelyn Allers is among those women to recently come forward. A Bucknell University physics and astronomy professor, Allers claims that in 2009, at an American Astronomical Society after party, Tyson groped her after she asked for a picture with him.
“Tyson was there, and he was dancing and drinking and all of that at the party, so a friend and I decided to get pictures with him,” she told McAfee. That is when Allers says that things turned inappropriate.
“After we had taken the picture, he noticed my tattoo and kind of grabbed me to look at it, and was really obsessed about whether I had Pluto on this tattoo or not… and then he looked for Pluto, and followed the tattoo into my dress,” she recalled. “My experience with him is he’s not someone who has great respect for female bodily autonomy.”
Similarly, Ashley Watson, a former assistant of Tyson’s, says that she felt forced to quit her job as the result of Tyson’s behavior.
During a several month period in which she worked under Tyson, Watson told McAfee that “he put her in an uncomfortable situation by attempting to persuade her into sex, and demonstrated his ‘predatory tendencies.'” Watson added that Tyson made “misogynistic comments,” and kept a list of overweight actresses on his phone.
Previous rape accusation
These accusations follow musician Tchiya Amet’s earlier accusation that Tyson drugged and raped her while she was a student in the galactic astronomy program at the University of Texas in 1984.
Amet first went public with her story in 2010 and has posted online about it multiple times since, but has been mostly ignored — until now. In a recent interview, Amet told McAfee why she waited so long to talk about it:
I didn’t tell anybody because when I had been an undergrad, I had some issues of molestation by a student and a faculty member, and when I went to report it to the authorities, they both told me not to say anything because it would ruin the person’s life.
Tyson to be investigated
Besides his day job as an astrophysicist and “Cosmos” host, Tyson has been one of the scientific community’s leading critics of president Trump. One such encounter occurred on Twitter with renowned Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling.
“If a Space Alien landed in the USA & requested: ‘Take me to your leader’, I wonder how Pres Trump would react vs Pres Clinton,” Tyson tweeted. To which Rowling replied, “Afraid we need to know whether the alien has breasts before we can answer,” referring to allegations that the president mistreats women.
With these three accusations of sexual misconduct, National Geographic and The Fox News Channel has launched an investigation.
“We have only just become aware of the recent allegations regarding Neil deGrasse Tyson,” said the networks in a joint statement. “We take these matters very seriously and we are reviewing the recent reports.”
The Cosmos producers added some words of their own, saying:
The credo at the heart of COSMOS is to follow the evidence wherever it leads. The producers of Cosmos can do no less in this situation. We are committed to a thorough investigation of this matter and to act accordingly as soon as it is concluded.
If the allegations turn out to be true, let’s hope that Tyson gets the same treatment as Harvey Weinstein and the rest of the Hollywood types who seem to have trouble treating women with respect. The only question remaining is whether Tyson would be summarily dismissed from TV, like Rosanne Barr, or from teaching positions, like Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, or would the powers that be sweep his misconduct under the rug?
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