Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin mocked Bill Nye on Thursday, using the premier of a film that criticizes climate change scientists to call into question Nye’s credentials.
“Bill Nye is as much a scientist as I am,” the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee said, according to The Hill. “He’s a kids’ show actor, he’s not a scientist.”
Palin, who was speaking at the Washington premiere of the anti-climate change film “Climate Hustle,” targeted Nye during a rant against the “alarmism” of climate change activists.
Scientists who study climate have an overwhelmingly consensus that the Earth is warming and humans are the cause, according to multiple peer-reviewed scientific journals.
Palin urged parents to teach their children to “ask those questions and not just believe what Bill Nye the Science Guy is trying to tell them” about climate change.
In “Climate Hustle,” a clip of an interview with Nye is shown in which he seems to advocate investigating people who are responsible “for the introduction of this extreme doubt…about climate change.”
“I can see where people are very concerned about this and are pursuing criminal investigations as well as engaging in discussions line this,” he says in the clip.
Nye, who attended the White House Science Fair this week, is a vocal supporter of addressing climate change, and graduated from Cornell University’s School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering.
But he is probably best known for his role in the popular educational TV series “Bill Nye the Science Guy,” which covered a variety of science topics for grade-school children.