This week, National Geographic has announced that Neil deGrasse Tyson's StarTalk series is going on a hiatus as claims of sexual assault suffered at the hands of Tyson are investigates.
The series has just entered its 20-episode fifth season. This third episode was last aired on November 26th and will not air any more of its remaining 17 episodes until Nat Geo's investigation is conclusive.
“In order to allow the investigation to occur unimpeded we chose to hold new episodes of ‘Star Talk’ until it is complete,” a Nat Geo rep tells Variety. “We expect that to happen in the next few weeks at which time we’ll make a final decision.”
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It was on the website Patheos that allegations of Tysn's abuse surfaced when Dr. Katelyn N. Allers of Bucknell University claimed that Tyson groped her at a 2009 event while his former assistant, Ashley Watson, asserts that her former boss made sexual advances. Before those two ladies, Tyson's former college classmate accused Tyson of raping her when they were graduate students in 1980s.
Currently, Tyson's Cosmos reboot is also set to premiere on National Geographic in March and proposes another issue for National Geographic and Fox Networks if their investigation does indeed support the alarming claims made by Tyson's accusers.
"We take these matters very seriously and we are reviewing the recent reports,” Fox and Nat Geo said in a joint statement last year, adding that they “are committed to a thorough investigation of this matter and to act accordingly as soon as it is concluded.”