Bill Nye Is Forced To Defend His Status As ‘The Science Guy’ To Stephen Colbert

Bill Nye tried to put to bed the long-running criticism that he’s not really “The Science Guy,” something his opponents gravitate towards if you do a quick Google search. It’s one of those things that constantly pops up, especially now that Nye is a vocal dissenter of government policy towards science and back in the limelight on Netflix. But still, he has to face the music and explain why he’s really “The Science Guy” when his background is in mechanical engineering. Now this wouldn’t matter to someone like me who believes all science is magic and we were birthed by a dragon in some space volcano that seeded the planet, but real scientists might have an issue with Bill Nye running around calling himself by some fake name.

Luckily, Nye’s defense is pretty solid. He spells it out for Colbert and sends it to that base level we can all understand:

Also when you’re rubbing shoulders with Carl Sagan, even a little bit — unless you’re just collecting his hair or something — you’re doing pretty well in the science department. It isn’t even a thought that crossed my mind as someone who grew up watching the original show. There’s no way you could say that Bill Nye wasn’t deep in the science game if you watched that show, same way you know Mr. Wizard wasn’t actually a wizard after watching his.

How far will those go to silence Bill Nye’s critics? Not too far. Cities could be floating and there’d still be a voice crying about climate change needing debate. So let’s just celebrate like this and enjoy that Bill Nye is still around.

(Via The Late Show)