Bill Nye’s company says SOTU attendance not an endorsement

Well-known TV figure Bill Nye “the Science Guy” is not backing off plans to attend President Trump’s first State of the Union address Tuesday night, but his appearance is not meant to be an endorsement, his company says.

In a post from The Planetary Society Tuesday, the group’s director of space policy, Casey Dreier, said Nye’s attendance as the guest of Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-Okla.), Trump’s nominee to head NASA, does not mean he’s endorsing him for the role.

“So right up front, I want to restate the fact that attending the [State of the Union] as Bridenstine’s guest does not mean that either Bill Nye or The Planetary Society is endorsing his nomination. The Society does not make endorsements for NASA Administrator nominees — we are committed to working with whomever serves in that position,” Dreier said in the post.

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Dreier said the company has had a years-long relationship with Bridenstine and his staff, who he’s found to be “thoughtful and open to taking advice and ideas from people willing to engage with them.” Bridenstine is on a House space subcommittee which oversees NASA.

Dreier pressed that Nye’s attendance at the speech falls in line with the company’s belief that science should be bipartisan.

“Space exploration is one of the few areas of politics that still offers significant opportunities for bipartisan rapprochement,” Dreier said. “A shared passion for space can lay the groundwork for a relationship between individuals of very different political beliefs.”

Nye’s announcement that he would attend the State of the Union was met with a mix of shock and criticism. Nye has in the past been a vocal opponent of the Trump administration over climate change.

On Tuesday, 500 Women Scientists, a group that describes itself as a grass-roots organization dedicated to “making science open, inclusive, and accessible” to a diverse population, condemned Nye’s decision to attend the speech and accused him of putting his “personal brand over the interests of the scientific community at large.”

Last week representatives for ClimateTruth.org, Climate Hawks Vote and Demand Progress delivered petitions with over 35,000 signatures to Nye that expressed how “bewildered and disappointed” supporters were by his decision to attend the speech, according to a statement. 

The text of one of multiple petitions urged the scientist to cancel his plans to attend.