Tyson is the long time director of New York’s Hayden Planetarium. He gained some notoriety by banishing Pluto from the planetary canon and casting him out to the Kuiper Belt a few years before the IAU did the same in 2006.
He played the role of Negro Scientist in the Fox network 2014 remake of Cosmos, the 1980 series with Carl Sagan. The role was based on the role of Ivy League Scientist (Cornell) that Sagan played in the original. (Zuben Elgenubi took courses with Sagan.) Thanks in large part to Tyson, the remake was a major disappointment. In fairness, Tyson was a symptom, it was a major disappointment because of the ignorance of the producers and their total lack of respect for the audience’s intelligence. Tyson was a symptom, as I said.
Prior to the Fox series he had made a career of being an obnoxious know-it-all (think: Bill Nye) who always carefully toed the conventional wisdom and was touted as a role model for the colored children. So listen up, ye unfavored Children of Ham, be liken unto Dr. Tyson, always make oblation unto the Democratic Party and thou shalt walk in light and have soft employment and speaking gigs, all the days of thy life. Amen
Tried to watch the first Cosmos segment with Tyson.....unwatchable.