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Neil deGrasse Tyson under investigation after accusations of sexual misconduct

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SaysWho?

SaysWho?

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2018/12/01/neil-degrasse-tyson-under-investigation-after-accusations-sexual-misconduct

 

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Days after multiple women accused Neil deGrasse Tyson of sexual harassment and assault, Fox Entertainment Group and the producers of the television series “Cosmos” said they were investigating the celebrity astrophysicist.

 

The allegations were reported Thursday on the website Patheos, which features writing on religion, science and the skeptic community. In the report, Bucknell University astronomer Katelyn Allers said Tyson grabbed her arm and reached into her dress while looking at a tattoo of the solar system. Ashley Watson, a former assistant to Tyson who worked on his latest “Cosmos” series, said she quit her job after Tyson made inappropriate sexual advances.

 

Patheos has previously reported allegations by musician Tchiya Amet, who said Tyson drugged and raped her when they were graduate students at the University of Texas at Austin.

 

Tyson's response:

 

 

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Xbob42

Xbob42

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I dunno, the only one that would even register as assault for me would be the date rape one, which the accuser claims to have no recollection of? What?


The other ones amount to "Tyson touched my shoulder" and "After working with him for several months, Tyson served me wine and cheese and gave me a handshake."

 

Dude sounds like a classy guy, if a bit awkward. He sure as fucking shit doesn't sound like a predator. We'll see what the investigations produce, but so far it looks like a couple of people really, REALLY stretching the concept of sexual misconduct and are further watering down its meaning to include the most innocuous nonsense. Despite that, he still offered unreserved apologies and welcomed the investigation.

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Spork3245

Spork3245

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22 hours ago, SaysWho? said:

 

Nobody cares what's in another mega-thread on another board. 

 

EDIT: Damn, 1-starring the thread and a guillotine for both posts. Must have gotten under your skin. 1-1 guillotines is more proper.

 

That’s kind of his whole schtick lately if he disagrees with you.

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RedSoxFan9

RedSoxFan9

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Tyson quickly promoted Watson to be his assistant. She met his mother, wife, and son when they came to visit, and he met her dad, sister, and fiancé. She thought he was a charismatic and friendly guy — until the night of May 16, when she was driving him home after a long day.

 

Tyson invited her up to his apartment to “unwind” over a bottle of wine, she recalled. She felt uncomfortable as he gazed into her eyes and held her wrist to feel her “spirit connection.” They spent two hours together, as he made sexual references to song lyrics and described his need for physical release. As she was leaving, he took her by the shoulders and said, “I want to hug you so bad right now, but I know that if I do, I’ll just want more.” 

 

On the car drive home the next day, Watson said, he told her she was “too distracting” to ever make it as a producer. She couldn’t stand the idea of working with him any longer. The following day, she reported the incident and her resignation to a line producer, who suggested that Watson tell everyone she was leaving due to a “family emergency.” So she did.

 

How is this appropriate?

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Bloodporne

Bloodporne

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On 12/3/2018 at 11:33 AM, RedSoxFan9 said:

 

I by no means think any of this should be shrugged off, it should be investigated, but I'm incredibly fucking tired of this holier-than-thou Schadenfreude Twitter shit. What does this add to the actual potentially serious matter at hand but stoking the ire of public opinion and creating entertainment at the expense of both the potential victims and/or Tyson's career? 

 

The tattoo one is laughable, the work situation is in bad taste and the actual date rape allegation should be taken very seriously in turn. However, this was literally in the early 80's supposedly, how can this be actually investigated at this point? Is there any actual proper, legal way and not just public opinion plus hear-say?

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Greatoneshere

Greatoneshere

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1 hour ago, Bloodporne said:

I by no means think any of this should be shrugged off, it should be investigated, but I'm incredibly fucking tired of this holier-than-thou Schadenfreude Twitter shit. What does this add to the actual potentially serious matter at hand but stoking the ire of public opinion and creating entertainment at the expense of both the potential victims and/or Tyson's career? 

 

The tattoo one is laughable, the work situation is in bad taste and the actual date rape allegation should be taken very seriously in turn. However, this was literally in the early 80's supposedly, how can this be actually investigated at this point? Is there any actual proper, legal way and not just public opinion plus hear-say?

 

The only way is through, as you said, a police investigation, etc. I doubt there's much evidence that remains to prove whether he said or she said other than their testimonies, perhaps other eyewitness testimonies or character witness testimonies, but beyond looking for evidence (like Kavanaugh's calendar and year book, etc., things like that) it's difficult to prove old cases of this nature beyond a preponderance of the evidence or beyond a reasonable doubt which is why for old cases the court of public opinion is where women can see some sort of justice for past grievances, but of course that can also be both blown out of proportion and taken advantage of though that's the exception rather than the rule. Most often, most women are simply telling the truth, but of course there are gradations to sexual misconduct and not all sexual misconduct rises to the level of illegality. 

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Spawn_of_Apathy

Spawn_of_Apathy

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23 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

No they had their investigation neutered and the Senate decided that there wasn't enough evidence, but even if there was they would have still probably gone through with the confirmation.

We know that, but that's not what the FBI report said. It said they could not corroborate Dr Ford's claims. 

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Jason

Jason

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1 minute ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

We know that, but that's not what the FBI report said. It said they could not corroborate Dr Ford's claims. 

 

1. That's not the same as calling her a liar. 

2. They couldn't corroborate because they weren't allowed to. 

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