GAINING GRAVITY
Fourth woman accuses Tyson of misconduct
A fourth woman has come forward and accused renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson of sexual misconduct, a report said.
The unidentified new accuser told BuzzFeed News that the “Cosmos” host drunkenly propositioned her nearly nine years ago at a holiday party at the American Museum of Natural History, where he has long been the high-profile director of the Hayden Planetarium.
The allegation follows sexualmisconduct accusations from three other women, including one who claims he raped her in grad school during the 1980s.
Tyson, 60, who has denied any wrongdoing, is being investigated by National Geographic, which produces “Cosmos.”
The fourth accuser told BuzzFeed in report published Wednesday that Tyson made crude remarks to her at the January 2010 party for museum employees before suggesting they go into his office alone.
She said she had gone to the party with her then-boyfriend.
BuzzFeed said an e-mail it obtained shows that she mentioned the incident to her employer in 2014 an attempt to “shoot down a proposed collaboration with Tyson.”
Museum spokeswoman Anne Canty told the news site that she was unaware of the fourth allegation but that museum officials would investigate it.
National Geographic did not provide a comment.
Two of the Tyson accusers — Dr. Katelyn Allers, of Bucknell University, and Ashley Watson, a former assistant to Tyson — came forward last month in interviews with Patheos.
Allers said she was groped by Tyson in 2009 at a conference in Long Beach, Calif. Watson claimed she was tormented by constant sexual advances.
The third accuser, musician Tchiya Amet, accused Tyson about a year ago, claiming he raped her in the early ’80s when they were grad students at the University of Texas at Austin.
Amet told BuzzFeed that the assault happened at his apartment and that she was drugged.
Tyson, who has been married for 30 years, issued a statement on Facebook after Allers and Watson came forward, denying the allegations against him.
“Accusations can damage a reputation and a marriage,” he wrote. “Sometimes irreversibly. I see myself as loving husband and as a public servant — a scientist and educator who serves at the will of the public.”