The following article was originally published on December 2. On December 3, it was updated to include Neil deGrasse Tyson’s response to the allegations and republished.
After three women came forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against celebrity astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, Fox Broadcasting Company and National Geographic have said that they have opened investigations.
The move follows a report on the website Patheos in which two women accused Tyson of inappropriate sexual behaviour.
Both allegations have come to light around four years after musician Tchiya Amet claimed that Tyson raped her when they were both graduate students at the University of Texas, Austin.
In a joint statement, the producers of Cosmos, which DeGrasse Tyson presents on Fox and which is rebroadcast by National Geographic, said:
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.
Fox Broadcasting also issued a statement saying:
We have only just become aware of the recent allegations regarding Neil deGrasse Tyson. We take these matters very seriously and we are reviewing the recent reports.
In the Patheos article, Katelyn Allers, an associate professor at Bucknell University, Pennsylvania, claimed deGrasse Tyson groped her at an event in 2009 after she approached him to take a photo.
“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.”
Allers said her experience may not have risen to the level of assault, “but that it did show Tyson was capable of some creepy behaviour”.
Another woman, Ashley Watson, claimed that she quit her former job as DeGrasse Tyson’s assistant in response to repeated inappropriate sexual advances he allegedly made toward her. Accusing him of putting her in one uncomfortable situation after another, and of making “misogynistic comments”, she said there were many instances that demonstrated his “predatory tendencies”.
Tyson hosted 2014’s Cosmos, a science anthology in the vein of author Carl Sagan’s 1980 series of the same name. A sequel, again with Tyson as host, is set to premiere next year on Fox and National Geographic. Tyson is also the director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History, New York.
Update: On December 1, he posted a detailed response as a Facebook Note, stressing “the value of an independent investigation” and asking people to not let emotions bypass due-process.
Posted by Neil deGrasse Tyson on Saturday, December 1, 2018