Neil deGrasse Tyson left fans divided this week by posing with red hats that featured variations on President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.
On Monday, the celebrity astrophysicist posted a photo on his social media platforms in which he was seen holding four hats that read, respectively, “Make America Great Again,” “Make America Smart Again,” “Make Lying Wrong Again” and “Relax It’s Just A Red Hat.”
“Decisions, Decisions,” Tyson wrote in the accompanying caption. “Which hat to wear today?”
On X, formerly Twitter, he also ran a poll that allowed viewers to vote in favor of the hat they preferred. As of Wednesday, “Make Lying Wrong Again” was in the lead.
Fans, however, seemed unsure if Tyson intended it to be viewed as an endorsement of Trump, or a skewering of the president and his administration.
“Nothing about the MAGA agenda (which you are clearly attempting to desensitize people to here) is funny,” one person wrote on Instagram. “As a scientist, and especially a scientist with a platform, you should be ashamed of yourself.”
Kristina Bumphrey via Getty Images
Added another, “Sorry Neil, have to unfollow. It’s crazy to me that you would follow a white nationalist cult leader that is destroying the greatest country in the world. My mind is blown.”
Others, however, were more supportive.
“Neil is my favorite influencer now,” wrote one, while another suggested he “get 3 more and have one for every day of the week!”
Representatives for Tyson did not respond to HuffPost’s request for comment on the photo. Still, Tyson has been critical of the Trump administration and its policies in other recent social media posts.
“As a tan man from the Middle East, if Jesus were an undocumented American immigrant, I wonder if angry mobs would get ICE to deport him — especially for speaking out against greed and advocating for the poor,” he wrote on Instagram earlier this month.
Tyson isn’t the first celebrity to polarize fans by referencing a red hat that many perceived as a political gesture.
In November, former Pussycat Dolls member Nicole Scherzinger drew backlash when she left a supportive comment on an Instagram photo of Russell Brand holding a red hat that read, “Make Jesus First Again.”
Scherzinger, who currently stars in Broadway’s “Sunset Boulevard,” later noted she’d “made the mistake of not realizing [the post] could be easily interpreted as being politically related” and apologized.
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