“Aliens brought us together:” Is Neil de Grasse Tyson a UFO believer now?

For years, Neil deGrasse Tyson laughed off UFO claims and, as a prominent astrophysicist, told alien believers to look at the stars instead. Now, in an interview with Chris Cuomo, the scientist appears to have fully changed course and sides with the UFO community.

Now, instead of just telling people that they’re wrong, Tyson seems to have turned over a fresh leaf to help try to support the onward momentum of the disclosure movement.

There has been (and still is) a slice of resentment towards Tyson, particularly regarding his cynical tone, which seems to belittle believers.

In 2021, for example, he posted on X that truthers should “take one course in Stargazing, another in Atmospheric Phenomena, and a third in Cognitive Bias,” which certainly riled the community, with one replier saying:

“Every time you insult people rather than listening and investigating, you lose credibility and prove yourself less of a scientist, and more of a dogmatic proselytizer.”

Respectfully, astronomer to astronomer: every time u insult people rather than listening & investigating u lose credibility &prove urself less scientist, &more dogmatic proselytizer.

I invite u2 not debate but engage. USG takes #UAP #UFO seriously: time u shud too. Let's talk...

undefined ✨🚀Marian Rudnyk™©🪐🔭🇺🇦🇺🇸 (@MarianRudnyk) June 28, 2021

“Aliens as a given”

But now, upon the release of his new book, Take Me to Your Leader: Perspectives on Your First Alien Encounter, things seem different: Tyson has effectively done a 180 from his previous dismissive stance.

Speaking on The Chris Cuomo Project, Tyson controversially disregarded what he deems as lower-status stories from experiencers.

Any of the accounts of UFOs were people who didn't otherwise have title or integrity…the farmer in their back forty (40-acre estate)... or drunken revelers at 2 a.m. staggering out of the bar.

Perhaps the farmer or the bar-straggler would feel aggrieved by such a holier-than-thou dismissal of their sightings.

And, as Tyson course-corrects towards the whistleblowing community, whom he puts on a pedestal in “a parade of ex-intelligence officers, and under oath, in front of congress,” it might feel a bit like he’s jumping on the bandwagon for commercial gain.

Have thoughts about this topic? Others do, too. Join them in the discussion.

All fair, until he started to get a bit, well, silly. The outlandish leap came in presuming we take aliens “as a given.”

“If they landed, what should you say to them? If they ask you to take them to your leader, who would you choose?”

By smuggling in an assumption, he’s able to give his new book an absurd selling point.

Neil DeGrasse Tyson explains to Chris Cuomo why he decided to become a participant in the UAP conversation instead of a debunker - Says he was influenced by many credible UAP whistleblowers testifying under oath, and was inspired by how this issue brought both political sides together.
by u/TommyShelbyPFB in UFOs

Community reaction

So, as you'd expect, the condemnation of the Reddit community was impassioned.

“He can engage with the community he spent nearly 2 decades dismissing arrogantly, now it fits his interests,” claimed one user.

Another agreed: “There needs to be a montage of clips of him mocking and condescending people. I'd hate for him to weasel his way in after everything and profit off it.”

Not everyone was on board, however. In some corners, there were diverging views on how to demystify Tyson’s intentions.

The excellently named Steve90000 cited Tyson's new book as being his sole driver “to milk the community.” The Redditor asserted, “it actually makes me lose respect for him for not sticking to what he believes.”

A couple of replies begged to differ with one of the views, opining that Tyson is “legitimizing and validating UAP whistleblowers,” even if the publicity raised is a little fanciful.

So while a small minority feels legitimized by the astrophysicist's intentions, it appears most of the community does not. Still, it makes for a lively addition to disclosure as we await the White House's slow grind toward the next batch of evidence it bestows upon us.