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[Eadie]

https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/neil-degrasse-tyson-national-geographic-channel-cosmos-star-talk-1203156820/

Neil deGrasse Tyson Will Return to National Geographic After Assault Investigation

National Geographic Channel has completed its investigation into Cosmos and StarTalk host Neil deGrasse Tyson, and will move forward with both shows. The channel didn’t elaborate on its findings, however.

“StarTalk will return to the air with the remaining 13 episodes in April on National Geographic, and both Fox and National Geographic are committed to finding an air date for Cosmos,” the network said in a statement. “There will be no further comment.”

Cosmos: Possible Worlds and StarTalk have been in limbo for months, since Nat Geo launched an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct against the famed astrophysicist.

Fox had originally scheduled the new season of Cosmos to premiere on Sunday, March 3, while Nat Geo had slated a second window to begin on Monday, March 4. Both networks later had to scrap those plans.

Cosmos: Possible Worlds is the third season of the revival of the Cosmos franchise, as originally created by legendary astronomer Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan. (Fox aired the first season, while Nat Geo ran both the first and second seasons).

Fox and Nat Geo had given the show a 13-episode order, and it was also originally set to premiere as a global event in 172 countries and 43 languages. But the show’s official Twitter feed hasn’t posted since early November, opting not to address the change in plans.

The decision to put Cosmos on hold also delayed plans for National Geographic to publish a companion book, also titled Cosmos: Possible Worlds, by Druyan. Billed as a follow-up to Sagan’s bestseller Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, the original on-sale date was Feb. 19. Etailers including Amazon have pages for the book — but aren’t making it available for purchase.

While the launch of Cosmos was frozen, Nat Geo also yanked Tyson’s long-running chat show StarTalk off the air. StarTalk returned for its fifth season in November but had aired just three episodes, out of a 20-episode order, when new allegations against Tyson emerged.

Nat Geo began an investigation into Tyson after the website Patheos reported that two women had accused Tyson of inappropriate behavior: Bucknell University’s Dr. Katelyn N. Allers claimed Tyson groped her at an event in 2009, while a former assistant, Ashley Watson, said Tyson made repeated inappropriate sexual advances toward her.

Late last year, Fox and Nat Geo released a joint statement: “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.” The show’s producers, which include Druyan’s Cosmos Studios and MacFarlane’s Fuzzy Door Productions, said in a statement in December that they “are committed to a thorough investigation of this matter and to act accordingly as soon as it is concluded.”

This wasn’t the first time Tyson had been accused of misconduct; musician Tchiya Amet has claimed that Tyson raped her when they were both graduate students in the 1980s.

The new allegations put Fox and Nat Geo in a jam when it came to Cosmos, as Tyson couldn’t easily be edited out of the show. Not only does he narrate the series, but he’s incorporated on-camera throughout the series.

Tyson wasn’t the only on-camera personality that Nat Geo has investigated over the past year over allegations of sexual misconduct. Last year, Morgan Freeman (who hosts and executive produces Nat Geo’s The Story of God) was accused of harassment by eight women in a CNN report. Nat Geo said it investigated and didn’t find any instances of wrongdoing on the production of The Story of God, and the show was reinstated. (Morgan even appeared at Nat Geo’s Television Critics Assn. press tour session last month, although he didn’t address the allegations there.)

For his part, Tyson denied the allegations in a Facebook post, and at the time said he welcomed an investigation: “In any claim, evidence matters. Evidence always matters. But what happens when it’s just one person’s word against another’s, and the stories don’t agree? That’s when people tend to pass judgment on who is more credible than whom. And that’s when an impartial investigation can best serve the truth – and would have my full cooperation to do so.”
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Art Should Comfort the Disturbed and Disturb the Comfortable.

[Bud Brewster]

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Dear Lord, am I the only passionate, amorous, heterosexual left on the planet who hasn't let his strong biological urges convince him to do stupid things that would land him in court?

I confess that during my long and eventful 70 years, I've been a "Fool for Love" just about every way there is to take that phrase . . . but I've never let my strong sexual inclinations steal my intelligence and corrupt my morals to the point where I've hurt the wonderful ladies in my life and make me ashamed of what I've done.

And yet, we hear about so many famous people who've destroyed their reputations and their careers because they just couldn't keep the damn thing in their pants!

Pardon my French.





Bill Cosby is in now jail for being convicted of such offenses.

President Bill Clinton shamed the office of the presidency for being a Horny Toad in the White House.

And President Donald Trump tried to silence a porn star he had an affair with while he was married to a dazzling fashion model . . . who's now our very elegant First Lady.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is very crazy behavior for some pretty powerful and famous men.

My point is that I'm sick and tired of hearing about men who are supposed to have brilliant minds — and yet who seem to be thinking with a different blood-enriched organ which happens to be located 30 inches lower than their brains.

I know that's true, folks, because I just measure the distance myself with a yardstick, and it's 30 inches lower . . . exactly. (You guys who happen to be taller or shorter than my own 5'10" will discover that the distant will differ.)

My point, of course, is that men need to start acting like men . . . not like teenage boys who are being led around by that mindless "compass" they possess — the one located just below their belts!

The world we live in is crazy enough without having our scientists and politicians act like teenage boys who want Prom Night to become the highlight of their lives because that's when they lost their virginity!

Okay. That, folks, is the end of my sermon.

Now, please go home and have Sunday dinner with your families.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)