From PZ Myers:
As you’ve probably heard, Neil deGrasse Tyson has been accused of, and is being investigated for, inappropriate behavior with women. Three women have made accusations of varying severity, which is starting to add up.
Tyson has made a response to the accusations. I think it’s a good one. It is the case that if you are a popular celebrity with many encounters with the public, you’ll slip up now and then and cross a boundary that someone finds inappropriate, and the question is whether you can recognize that, draw back, and apologize with some sympathy for your accuser. Tyson demonstrates that here.
I’m sure it’s even more difficult for an exuberant fellow like Tyson. I’m recalling one event where he and I met for the first time, and he rushed over and gave me a great big bear hug — more than that, we practically had a wrestling match then and there. He’s passionate and enthusiastic and unreserved with everyone, and looking back on it…what if I were more reluctant to accept physical contact? What if I’d been a woman? How would that encounter have been interpreted? I can see how his wholeheartedness is going to occasionally get him into trouble, but I don’t want a timid, reserved Neil deGrasse Tyson.
I see some commenters attacking Tyson for “poisoning the well” with regard to the rape accuser and accordingly discouraging similar accusations from other “marginalized” people by going after her credibility. But if I were falsely and publicly accused of raping someone, you can be certain that I would be seizing upon every inconsistency, supposition, and indication of detachment from reality to discredit her as well. I imagine most people would do the same — and they would not be wrong to do so.
In the case of a false accusation, the one in the wrong is the accuser. If rightfully defending oneself against that causes some other harm, the fault for that lies with the accuser as well.
So it all comes down to who’s telling the truth. Unfortunately, with a claim like this, there’s no way to be sure.
Anyway, here are the more detailed accounts of the other incidents:
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/nosacredcows/2018/11/two-more-women-accuse-neil-degrasse-tyson-of-sexual-misconduct/