Mulgrew’s Role In Controversial Documentary
2 min read
Yesterday, many Star Trek fans were confused when they heard that Kate Mulgrew was the narrator of The Principle, a documentary claiming that the sun revolves around the Earth.
The documentary, produced by Holocaust-denier Robert Sungenis, makes an argument for geocentrism, a theory debunked by Galileo Galilei hundreds of years ago.
“I understand there has been some controversy about my participation in a documentary called The Principle,” said Mulgrew, via her Facebook account. “Let me assure everyone that I completely agree with the eminent physicist Lawrence Krauss, who was himself misrepresented in the film, and who has written a succinct rebuttal in Slate. I am not a geocentrist, nor am I in any way a proponent of geocentrism. More importantly, I do not subscribe to anything Robert Sungenis has written regarding science and history and, had I known of his involvement, would most certainly have avoided this documentary. I was a voice for hire, and a misinformed one, at that. I apologize for any confusion that my voice on this trailer may have caused.”
Sungenis runs a website claiming that “Galileo was Wrong – The Church was Right.”
Physicist Lawrence Krauss cried foul in a Slate article, located here, but unlike Mulgrew, he didn’t even knowingly participate in the documentary. “I have no recollection of being interviewed for such a film, and of course had I known of its premise I would have refused,” he said. “So, either the producers used clips of me that were in the public domain, or they bought them from other production companies that I may have given some rights to distribute my interviews to, or they may have interviewed me under false pretenses, in which case I probably signed some release. I simply don’t know.”
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I almost want to watch this documentary to see how ridiculous this guy is… but I have a feeling I wouldn’t get very far into it without giving up in frustration.
Oh Kate, Kate, Kate… give the money back.
The Principle sounds better than the last season of Voyager.
I can’t believe in an age where pre-Galileo concepts are making a comeback. Where Neil DeGrass Tyson gets death threats for talking about science. Seriously, this needs to stop
It really doesn’t though
I know Kate Mulgrew has a respect for science and scientists; I’ve heard her speak rather passionately about what it meant to her to have had some students tell her she was their inspiration in this. So it seems likely some very deceptive practices were at play here.
Besides, even at worst, at least she took some dollars from these kooks.
And a middle finger.
Many of these whack bastards will con people into participating in an attempt to gain some credibility. Bait-and-switch is common, as is slicing interviews into single-sentence or even single-word bites to rearrange them like Scrabble tiles. Bart Sibrel, lunar landing hoax profiteer and NASA-approved punching bag, attempted to do the same thing to Buzz Aldrin, which prompted a walkout that led to this moment of Zen:
http://youtu.be/wptn5RE2I-k
Ahh. I love that clip.
Krauss’s rebuttal also has (over his
objections) the trailer for this nonsense embedded. Said trailer could be for almost any modern science program,
until the last thirty-odd seconds. I find it somewhat comforting that
people such as this Sungenis have to go to such lengths to gain even a thin
veneer of verisimilitude; it shows clearly that they
know they are full of shit, and they
know the only way they can get support is to lie,
misrepresent, and obfuscate.
Ms. Mulgrew, nothing would state more clearly your disapproval of these deceptive practices than to loudly and publicly return the fee you were paid, preferably on the point of an extended middle finger. If you badly need that money, say for medical bills or such, I’m sure the fandom would be more than willing to take up a collection.
Wait…the Earth revolves around the sun? Does President Kennedy know?
Next thing, you’ll be telling me Bill Shatner’s been wearing a toupe all these years.
Maybe she’s getting senile in her old age? This sounds pretty ridiculous. However I never did agree much with her philosophy on life so maybe she’s even loonier than I thought.
Hell, no! If you managed to separate a fool from his money, never give it back! He’d just use it to spout more bullshit.
This is a quote from her that is in the article:
“I understand there has been some controversy about my participation in a documentary called The Principle,” said Mulgrew, via her Facebook account. “Let me assure everyone that I completely agree with the eminent physicist Lawrence Krauss, who was himself misrepresented in the film, and who has written a succinct rebuttal in Slate.
I am not a geocentrist, nor am I in any way a proponent of geocentrism.
More importantly, I do not subscribe to anything Robert Sungenis has
written regarding science and history and, had I known of his
involvement, would most certainly have avoided this documentary. I was a
voice for hire, and a misinformed one, at that. I apologize for any
confusion that my voice on this trailer may have caused.”</bq
Fair enough and I acknowledge that I didn’t read it. I guess I fell victim to headline reading. My bad.
We have an obligation to separate stupid people from their money before dangerous people get it.
Agreed, but there’s obviously a typo in this article. I believe the producer’s name is actually Robert Subgenius.