‘If that’s the case, then we don’t need a justice system’: Neil deGrasse Tyson opens up about being swept up in the Me Too movement

Renowned astrophysicist and Cosmos host Neil deGrasse Tyson recently opened up about being accused of inappropriate behavior when the #MeToo movement began picking up steam a few years back. The world-famous scientist chose to focus on people’s reactions to the allegations rather than the incidents in question.

In a recent interview with the YouTube channel VladTV, Tyson responded to a question about how the allegations affected him by saying:

“So all I have to say about that is: To live in a time where the simple act of being accused is sufficient for people to think you’re guilty. And the simple act of being the accuser has everyone convinced that you’re innocent and not capable of wrongdoing. If that’s the case, then we don’t need a justice system.”

However, according to Tyson, the American justice system still works — and it did for him. “I’m glad to live in a country with due process and investigations,” he said. “That’s the whole point of investigations.” And to ensure no one tries to cancel him again, Tyson noted, “The #MeToo movement should have been in high gear decades earlier,” adding, “I think the #MeToo movement was welcomed and long overdue in society.”

In the interest of providing some background on these comments — an article published in 2018 on the website Patheos accused Tyson of inappropriate behavior toward two women: Katelyn N. Allers, an associate professor of physics and astronomy at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania; and Ashley Watson, who had served as Tyson’s assistant on Cosmos.

Per the New York Times, Allers said that she met Tyson at a party in 2009 and that he traced her arm tattoo of the solar system with his hand, going in her dress briefly during the act. According to Allers, Tyson said he was looking for Pluto.

Meanwhile, Watson said she was at Tyson’s apartment for what she thought was work when he held her hand and stared into her eyes for about 10 seconds, until she pulled away. According to Watson, Tyson explained it was a type of handshake that Native people perform and then expressed an urge to hug her — but said he wouldn’t because he knew he’d want more than that. Watson later quit her job.

The article also published already public allegations by Tchiya Amet el Maat, who said Tyson raped her in 1984 when they were both in graduate school.

In a Facebook post, Tyson denied the rape accusation and responded to the two other allegations. Regarding Allers’ complaint, Tyson said, “While I don’t explicitly remember searching for Pluto at the top of her shoulder, it is surely something I would have done in that situation,” adding, “As we all know, I have professional history with the demotion of Pluto, which had occurred officially just three years earlier. So whether people include it or not in their tattoos is of great interest to me.”

In 2019, the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History — of which Tyson was director at the time — conducted an investigation into the allegations. A museum spokesperson later announced that the investigation was complete and that Tyson “remains an employee and director” of the planetarium.

A separate investigation was conducted by Fox Broadcasting and National Geographic, which broadcast Tyson’s television series StarTalk and Cosmos. That investigation also found no wrongdoing, and the shows resumed airing.

Wading into this debate requires a fair amount of nuance, and while Tyson acquits himself decently, at points he still sounds pretty clueless. First off, his notes about living in a culture where people are guilty until proven innocent are firmly from his experience, as more often than not it’s women who come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct and are called liars, opportunists, and much worse things. Of course people should wait for the end of an investigation to offer an opinion, but it’s not like we’re all present for every step of said investigation to confirm to our satisfaction that the findings are correct.

Plus, hypothetically, if Tyson’s aforementioned responses to the allegations are true, perhaps he was a guy who could stand to learn a lesson. His career is fine. His name is cleared. He can call social media a “cesspool” all he wants, but we could all use a standards check from time to time. As for the #MeToo movement taking too long to get here? That’s probably for the same reason that Watson allegedly left Tyson’s apartment all those years ago: Women have plenty of reason to be afraid of men in power.