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Whew chile, the allegations!!
In case you missed it--beloved author, astrophysicist, and all around smarty pants Neil DeGrasse Tyson has recently come under fire after three women came forward with allegations of sexual assault against him.
Patheos.com, the first to report the story, detail different stories from women who claimed to have been assaulted by Tyson--including his former assistant Ashley Watson, Tchiya Amet, and Dr. Katelynn Allers. Their stories range from unwanted sexual advances to inappropriate touching and even rape (Amet) while taking pictures with women.
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After the accusations made their way way around the internet, Tyson took to Facebook with a 1.600 word essay refuting the claims of each incident reported. After detailing his side of each reported incident, Tyson writes "I'm the accused, why believe anything I have to say?" to which he answers by reiterating "the value of an independent investigation, which FOX/NatGeo (the networks on which Cosmos and StarTalk air) announced that they will conduct."
Yes, as the host of both shows his fate with the FOX/NatGeo networks is unclear. According to Buzzfeed, the investigation appears to be in its early stages. Investigators are interviewing Watson this Wednesday, she said. Neither Allers nor Amet has been contacted by the network as of yet.
Shortly after addressing/denying the claims, another woman came forward. Reportedly, this fourth woman told BuzzFeed News that her experience of sexual harassment from Tyson occurred in January 2010. She says she joined her then-boyfriend at a holiday party for the American Museum of Natural History. While there, Tyson drunkenly (& allegedly) approached her making sexual jokes and propositioning her to join him alone in his office. She later described the incident to her own employer in order to avoid a proposed collaboration with Tyson.
Yikes. Tyson has yet to comment on the claims made by the fourth accuser, but you can read more of his rebuttal here.
Thoughts?
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