Bill Nye “The Science Guy” is facing some heat from his fans for planning to attend President Trump’s State of the Union Address.
Nye will attend as the guest of Republican Rep. Jim Bridenstine of Oklahoma, who has been embroiled in controversy since Trump nominated him to head up NASA.
Bridenstine sided with many in the Trump administration in denying climate change before finally acknowledging its contribution to global warming. But he has stopped short of admitting it’s the primary cause.
Nye’s fans have drafted a petition urging the “Bill Nye Saves the World” star to steer clear of Trump’s address, according to Salon.com.
“President Donald Trump is a bigoted climate denier. So is Congressman Jim Bridenstine (R-OK), Trump’s embattled nominee for NASA Administrator. So why is Bill Nye ‘very pleased’ to be Bridenstine’s guest at Trump’s first State of the Union address?” the petition alleges.
“Bill, please be the Science Guy, not the Bigoted Climate Denial Guy. Cancel your plans to attend Trump’s State of the Union as Rep. Bridenstine’s guest,” adds the petition, which was 55 signatures short of its 35,000 goal.
Meanwhile, Nye pushed back at the criticism.
“I will attend the State of the Union as a guest of Congressman Jim Bridenstine — nominee for NASA Administrator — who extended me an invitation in my role as CEO of The Planetary Society,” the science educator and engineer tweeted Monday night.
“While the Congressman and I disagree on a great many issues — we share a deep respect for NASA and its achievements and a strong interest in the future of space exploration,” he wrote.
“My attendance tomorrow should not be interpreted as an endorsement of this administration, or of Congressman Bridenstine’s nomination, or seen as an acceptance of the recent attacks on science and the scientific community,” he continued.
Nye has stressed that he accepted Bridenstine’s invitation to advance the agenda of the Planetary Society, an NGO founded by famed scientist Carl Sagan that promotes human exploration of space.
“The congressman is the nominee to be the next Administrator of NASA, and as I often say, NASA is the best brand the United States has. At the State of the Union address, I hope to hear the President present plans for an ambitious, science-driven space exploration agenda,” he told Quartz in a statement.
“Space exploration brings out the best in us. It brings the nation together as we solve problems that have never been solved before and learn more about the cosmos and our place within it,” Nye said.
Bridenstine said in a statement he invited Nye because he has inspired “countless young people to enter the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math.”
The lawmaker incorrectly said on the House floor in 2013 that global temperatures stopped rising 10 years earlier.
During a confirmation hearing for the NASA post in November, he attested to the existence of climate change and humans’ role in it, but would not say if people were the primary contributors to the phenomenon.
The current consensus, according to NASA, is that “climate-warming trends over the past century are extremely likely due to human activities,” CNN reported.