A viral clip is recently circulating on social media which shows renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson declaring that Nikola Tesla was a time traveler. However, Tyson has never made that comment.
The deepfake footage features what appears to be Tyson’s voice making extraordinary claims about the Serbian-American inventor. “Nikola Tesla had to have been a time traveler because the things he invented shouldn’t have existed in his lifetime,” the voice states with conviction.
Neil deGrasse Tyson: “Nikola Tesla had to have been a time traveler…” and this is why. pic.twitter.com/s52p11YG6i
— Joe Rogan Podcast News (@joeroganhq) February 24, 2026
The fabricated monologue continues with legitimate historical facts about Tesla’s achievements: his development of alternating current electricity that powers modern infrastructure, his conceptualization of wireless technology decades before its realization, and his demonstration of a remote-controlled boat in 1898 that baffled audiences who suspected sorcery rather than engineering.
“He could build machines entirely in his imagination, run them, test them, and find flaws without ever touching a tool. Engineers today still can’t do that,” the voice claims, before detailing Tesla’s ambitious Wardenclyffe Tower project and his predictions about smartphones and autonomous vehicles.
The video then concluded with observations about Tesla’s final years and the government seizure of his research documents. The AI Tyson says: “Despite all of this, he sadly passed away broke and alone, while the rest of the world ran on his ideas. And the government seized his research because even they didn’t understand what he was building, he changed the world while being fully self-funded.”
Yet a thorough review of Tyson’s actual public statements reveals no such commentary. In his three-hour appearance on Joe Rogan Experience episode #1159, where Tyson discussed everything from astrophysics and education reform to the physics of flying cars and the future of space exploration, Tesla’s name never entered the conversation.
During that extensive dialogue, Tyson focused on topics including his bestselling book “Astrophysics for People in a Hurry,” the importance of nurturing curiosity in education, the distinction between objective and personal truths, and even the science behind phenomena like Manhattanhenge.
Social media users quickly took the bait. However, some commenters questioned the authenticity of the clip immediately.
