How could we possibly know? It could be completely genuine. Or it could be cleverly written with a smart PR person so that it’s not too smooth, e.g. quoting the inappropriate “If I hug you I might just want more” comment, seeking to portray him as the stereotypical science nerd with imperfect social skills, whose innocent but clumsy gestures might easily be misinterpreted.
It’s not ideal but all we really have to go on in these situations is the volume of complaints - whether more women now come forward with independent allegations.
Execute him!
On a serious note this is why I avoid use of first names and personal topics in professional interactions. It’s too easy to cross lines or to misunderstand where they are.
We have both sides of the incident with the production assistant. His statement on Facebook seems like a sanitized version of the events. She has given interviews like the one quoted below. I don’t think there is anything criminal there but I think it was inappropriate and actionable from an HR perspective.
If true, I am actually not surprised. Tyson always struck me as a narcissist who thinks very highly of himself. I found ‘Star Talk’ unlistenable because he is constantly talking over his guests or laughing at his own lame jokes. Many of his stories qualify as name-dropping or self-aggrandizing. People like that always strike me as being much more likely to demand what they want from the people around them, including women.
I think the actual response has his voice, but with a bit of carefulness as if he ran it through some help. But I don’t see that as an inherent problem–it is ultimately a public statement, and it’s good to have those vetted.
I tend to believe that he believes what he’s saying. That’s not the same as saying nothing bad happened, but I do think this is likely how he sees the situation. The Pluto incident seems harmless to me, and exactly something he would do but mess up on.
The work assistant thing does sound like he went too far, and that maybe it was a seduction attempt. That said, I do think it’s likely he does say that statement a lot, and that he didn’t get what it meant. Still, you shouldn’t be doing that whole seduction crap–just ask her out. Don’t be sneaky.
The oldest incident I know little about. All I know is that it did not seem important enough before. I do note that all Tyson brought up was how she was into woo and how they’d been in a relationship that didn’t work out. The defense there seems lacking, but that could also be because it’s older and seems to be regarded as less credible by the public.
I myself am torn. I of course hope that he didn’t hurt these women, because I don’t want women to be hurt. But I also worry if any widely reported incident like this turns out to be nothing that it will hurt #metoo. That is why I am being cautious here, saying I need more evidence, but I won’t doubt the women’s stories from their point of view.
nobody else has accused him but it’s only been a few days. Hard to predict what happens to him if there are no more accusations. He could very well lose his TV jobs just based on what’s out so far.
Are there meaningful degrees of transgression in acts such as those of which Tyson is accused? It seems that although the accusers didn’t appreciate his actions, his actions may have fallen more in the realm of “clueless flirting” (Dr. Allers) or “clueless propositioning” (Watson). Particularly with Watson … I walk through her account, and I can pick up the creepiness she felt – but I can’t get a sense of where Tyson crossed the career-killing threshhold:
Invited her to his home for wine & cheese?
Removing shirt to reveal undershirt, getting overly comfortable?
Allegedly pointing the (cheese?) knife at her? Threatening gesture intended?
Creepy handshake?
“If I hug you, I might want more?”
With Watson, in the end, is the inappropriateness more that she was his assistant on a job, and he was crossing too much into “the personal” with a subordinate? If Watson were instead someone Tyson met in a bar and had invited back to his place … is it a completely different ballgame?
Because in the end, Tyson did not initiate sex. Don’t think he even asked for it verbally, neither explicitly nor implicitly, going by both Watson and Tyson’s accounts. He did not block her from leaving his place (was the handshake interpreted as a “don’t leave” move?). Reading both accounts, Tyson didn’t convey that Watson needed to engage in sex with him to stay on the job (only a few days left anyway, by her account), or to “ever work in this town again.”
With Watson specifically – I see the creepiness. I see the inappropriateness. But I don’t see the, say, Matt Lauer level of malevolance (never mind the likes of Bill Cosby or Harvey Weinstein). What I see more is social clumsiness and a lot of over-assumption – flatly, Tyson probably thought Watson was potentially into him at some level, and making a move with only a few days left until the job was finished might have seemed like the “right time”.
Tyson DID, indeed, talk about “release” with Watson – by her account, asking if she needed a release. OK … there’s the implicit request for sex.
I missed that the first time around. Still in the social-clumsiness/over-assumption realm for me, though, because by her account it didn’t sound like he kept going on about it. In short – she didn’t follow his lead, and he seemed to be OK with that (though probably privately disappointed).
Even there, there’s some ambiguity. Folks in high-pressure work environments sometimes need something to do for stress release, and while I wouldn’t phrase it that way, there’s the possibility that he was basically asking, “How do you blow off steam?”
I’m not at all convinced that’s what he meant–but I’m also not convinced he was macking on her.
Here are the things I want to know:
-Are there male co-workers who can vouch for being invited back to his room for wine and cheese at night-time, as he suggests he does?
-Do these male co-workers agree that when he gets home he takes off his shirt, dressed only in his undershirt? that he turns on “romantic music”?
-Is there a Native American elder who can vouch for having taught this handshake to Tyson?
-Are there other co-workers who have received this handshake from him?
His claims are that his behaviors were innocuous and routine and not intended to be seduction. If that’s the case, then there should be folks in whom he’d show no sexual interest (presumably men) who experienced identical or similar behaviors from him.
The fewer of these behaviors that are replicated, the more suspicious it all looks.
Yeah, I don’t need to know any of those things. It’s apparent from the Jules/Vincent foot massage test that he’s never invited a solitary male colleague to his apartment for wine & cheese. Followed by a special Native American handshake. He was trying to sleep with her, pure & simple.
That seems likeliest to me. But the entire point of the Jules/Vincent foot massage test is that of course Jules hadn’t given a foot massage to a man, and that when asked, he had to admit he hadn’t.
So I’m asking.
If Tyson can say, “Yeah, unlike Jules and foot massages, I HAVE invited men up for wine and cheese after work,” then it’s different.
Tyson’s asked us to follow evidence. This is the evidence that’d support his framing of events, prove he’s not Jules.
Strictly … what Tyson suggests, specifically, is that he often serves visitors wine and cheese. Not a particularly remarkable claim.
While I agree with muldoonthief, I don’t think that Tyson’s actions with Watson – as reported by both parties to date – are fairly actionable absent some express written policy to the contrary during the production.
That’s true. It’s only a relevant claim, though, if he does so under similar circumstances: one on one, while taking off outer layers, and playing music. It’s certainly possible he does this with male co-workers, and I welcome evidence that he does. But if he’s only ever invited young women back to his hotel room for one-on-one late-night wine and cheese, that means his claims are irrelevant.
Is it clear cut that this was a situation where she was a subordinate, and the issue is whether he was trying to exploit his position of power to obtain sex?
Or was she a co-worker? If the latter, I’m not sure that the question of whether he treated male co-workers exactly identically is really relevant. There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with wanting to date a co-worker, although of course you must be extremely careful to act appropriately and not make them uncomfortable at work if they are not interested (and that’s why most companies strongly discourage it).
I’m not trying to defend him, I’m just not quite sure what this situation is.