You really can’t make this up.
When the European Space Agency landed on Comet 67P on Wednesday, we posted this somewhat sarcastic item pointing out that the live-feed from mission control skewed to a white/male demographic:
Why are most of the scientists who just landed a spaceship on a comet male and white? http://t.co/wZf7DbDVF3
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) November 12, 2014
Little did we know that our fake outrage would become real as Tweeters started to freak out over the sexy women depicted on one scientist’s shirt:
Comet-landiing scientist apologizes for his sexist shirt, but … http://t.co/r1nyEnhMoR @RachelFeltman #ThatShirt
— David Beard (@dabeard) November 14, 2014
An excerpt from the Washington Post piece linked above:
Matt Taylor, who’s a great scientist and seems to also be a pretty cool dude, gave a teary, heartfelt apology for his choice of attire on the day of Rosetta’s probe landing.
“I made a big mistake, and I offended many people,” Taylor said at Friday’s media briefing, his voice trembling, “and I’m very sorry about this.”
Oh, come on! There’s no crying in science! Here’s a close-up of the allegedly offensive shirt:
Taylor, however, is getting lots of support against those who saw “casual misogyny” in his choice of attire:
Recommended
https://twitter.com/Nero/status/533279762748559361
@dcexaminer @instapundit Can we make a bigger deal out of nothing? Tasteless shirt…yes….bit a tearful apology? What a wimp!
— Troy Frostad (@Catmboy) November 14, 2014
Ah, the good old "tearful apology" http://t.co/XM3f2XqTWj
— Joseph Lawler (@josephlawler) November 14, 2014
https://twitter.com/instapundit/status/533291112430321664
https://twitter.com/dad_of_jacob/status/533291739155427329
https://twitter.com/BecketAdams/status/533292490473082882
You would think landing on a comet would be enough, but NOPE:
I don’t care if the dude had “Yay Satan” imprinted on his shirt with a pic of the devil at half mast. HE LANDED ON A COMET!
— Brandon Morse (@TheBrandonMorse) November 14, 2014
https://twitter.com/johndurant/status/533274357821616128
This article dismissing us LANDING ON A COMET due to a guy wearing a “sexist” shirt pops up. An astronomer responds. http://t.co/0kBPsvV2rX
— Brandon Morse (@TheBrandonMorse) November 14, 2014
@missybuck96 @TelegraphNews #everydaysexism 'Sexist'? It is certainly sexy. Effeminate to cry over it, FFS.
— Robert Hogan (@RobertH1946) November 14, 2014
@TelegraphNews Srsly? Good grief, stop groveling to these pinch-faced puritans. We're all sick to death of them.
— KeepCalmAndDrawl (@FormerlyFormer) November 14, 2014
Exit question: What if that’s his lucky shirt and the only reason the landing was successful was because he was wearing it?
Related:
Jose Canseco excited about humans controlling the ‘comet transport system’
William Shatner congratulates ESA’s Rosetta mission for successful comet landing
Why are most of the scientists who just landed a spaceship on a comet male and white?
Join the conversation as a VIP Member