Steak-umm (Yes, The Sandwiches) Went To War With Neil deGrasse Tyson, And People Are Here For It

On Monday evening, in a tweet heard around the world, the Steak-umm social media fired an opening shot at famed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, and the internet was absolutely here for this (one-sided) battle of the ages. After seeing a tweet from Tyson that apparently rankled the steak sandwich brand, the account told the renowned educator to “Log off, bro,” before refuting Tyson’s definition of truth in science, as a frozen meat product does:

“the irony of neil’s tweet is that by framing science itself as “true” he’s influencing people to be more skeptical of it in a time of unprecedented misinformation. science is an ever refining process to find truth, not a dogma. no matter his intent, this message isn’t helpful”

— Steak-umm (@steak_umm) April 13, 2021

In pursuit of educating the masses, the Steak-umm account even took the fight to the replies where it chastised Tyson’s understanding of epistemology. “Science itself isn’t ‘true,” the Steak-umm social media account wrote. “It’s a constantly refining process used to uncover truths based in material reality and that process is still full of misteaks. Neil just posts ridiculous sound bites like this for clout and he has no respect for epistemology.” (Yes, you just read that pun.)

— Steak-umm (@steak_umm) April 13, 2021

Shortly after grilling Tyson and serving him on a bun with provolone and maybe some peppers, “Steak-umms” started trending on Twitter as people couldn’t help but stare in awe at watching “frozen meat sheets” school the host of Cosmos:

— David Gorski, MD, PhD (@gorskon) April 13, 2021

Here I am, a certified Science Communicator* throwing my support behind Frozen Meat Sheets over the reigning Today's Most Famous Science Communicator.

*According to my 1099-NEC https://t.co/bggycaj31d

— Dr. Tori Delaine (@ToriDelaineFosh) April 13, 2021

Seriously – we've got Steak-umm talking epistemology on Twitter over a stupid Neil deGrasse Tyson tweet and we're witnessing greatness in real time. pic.twitter.com/PCl0aEX6Wv

— Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncher) April 13, 2021

Science as a binary of "good" or "true" blurs how science is done and who its done by and for. Those are areas to explore if we want to build a scientific enterprise that is more trustworthy and equitable.

Also – I love this account. https://t.co/amrEnormYP

— Kishore Hari (@sciencequiche) April 13, 2021

steakumms' social media strategy in 2021 pic.twitter.com/tYHJTq1gV2

— andrew, deactivating soon (@FullMelvnJacket) April 13, 2021

As for Tyson, he has yet to respond to the “controversy” outside of a general rebuttal to anyone who questioned his initial tweet about truth in science. Considering he’s still one of America’s foremost science educators, Tyson is presumably aware that if you take a shot at Steak-umm brand steak sandwiches, you best not miss.

[Text; 1000 words; 4 mins]https://t.co/VnIS6kuSkS

— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) April 11, 2021