Bill Maher and Neil deGrasse Tyson Clash on Trans Athletes: ‘Going to File You Under Part of the Problem’ Weiss Eubanks/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

Comedian Bill Maher and Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson engaged in a tense clash over the issue of transgender athletes in sports.

As part of a wide-ranging discussion about the many reasons why the Democrats lost the 2024 election, Mahher and Tyson delved into the topic of the recent resignation of Laura Helmuth, the former chief editor of Scientific American magazine, who stepped down from her post after the revelation of deleted social media posts in which she referred to Trump voters as the “meanest, dumbest, most bigoted” people.

Helmuth chalked the posts up to “shock and confusion” following the election.

Helmuth’s explanations and the magazine’s coverage of scientific issues didn’t impress Maher, specifically the Scientific American’s coverage of the issue of transgender athletes. Maher took specific exception to an article where the magazine attributed resistance to allowing trans athletes to compete in women’s sports to “gender biases.”

Maher read from the specific article he referenced, “It sure didn’t sound scientific. It didn’t sound like the person I would want to be running Scientific American. It was a rant on [BlueSky]. I could read it to you. It’s really ugly. You know, ‘I apologize to younger voters that my Gen-X is so full of f*ck*ng fascists.’ Okay. I’m not for canceling people on either side, but here’s what I think is the scandal. This is in Scientific American less than a year ago, ‘inequity between male and female athletes as a result, not of inherent biological differences between the sexes, but of biases in how they are treated in sports.’ That’s nuts. And it sure ain’t scientific. And it’s in Scientific American. And that’s why the Democrats lost the election. It’s true.”

Tyson accused Maher of inventing yet another reason why the Democrats lost the election.

“Bill, every 20 minutes on your platform, you come up with another reason why the Democrats lost. You already have the answer. They lost the election. So anything you say about why they didn’t —”

But Maher cut him off, “First of all, you don’t watch this show, so you don’t know — It’s okay, but you talk as if you do, and you f*ck*ng don’t. That’s okay, just don’t bullsh*t me. That’s the one thing people can never do on this show is bullsh*t me. And that’s fine, but I don’t say that. I have very good reasons. But engage with the idea here. What I’m asking is Scientific American is saying basically that the reason why an NBA, WNBA a team can’t beat the Lakers is because of societal bias.”

Tyson responded, “What you’re saying is not Scientific American saying that. An editor for Scientific American says that who no longer has the job so don’t indict a 170-year-old magazine because somebody goes —”

Maher shot back, “This is Scientific American, and they are printing something that’s —”

Tyson stressed, “Someone enters the cesspool and social media and then participates in that exchange, so let’s talk about science!”

Maher demanded, “Why can’t you just say this is not scientific and Scientific American should do better?!”

“Well, does she still have her job?” Tyson asked.

“Not because of this! I said the scandal was her [posts],” Maher clarified.

Tyson sought to dismiss the issue, “I think this was a year ago.”

Refusing to be swayed, Maher insisted, “I think a year ago, women still couldn’t beat men in basketball or any other sport, and it wasn’t because of society. You don’t see a problem here?”

Tyson weakly attempted to find an athletic arena where women perform better than men. “Long distance swimming, women might actually have the advantage. Look into that.”

Maher remarked, “Maybe long distance swimming, okay.”

“I’ve looked into it,” Tyson asserted.

“Well, I’m going to file you under ‘part of the problem,’” Maher retorted.

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