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Neil deGrasse Tyson tells Demi Lovato: “Aliens have no feelings”

Demi said calling extra-terrestrials "aliens" was "derogatory"

By Jen Thomas

Demi Lovato and Neil deGrasse Tyson
Demi Lovato and Neil deGrasse Tyson disagree on what aliens should be called (Pic: Demi Lovato YouTube and @neiltyson twitter)

Scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson has responded to Demi Lovato’s claim that calling extra-terrestrials “aliens” is “derogatory.”  

Neil responded by telling Demi aliens “have no feelings”.

Lovato made the comment ahead of a new documentary ‘Unidentified’, where Demi aims to find out the truth about UFOs.

Fans had been speculating whether Demi had an unreleased song called ‘Aliens’ to which Lovato responded, telling E! News fans shouldn’t call extraterrestrials “aliens” because it is a “derogatory term for anything”.

Demi added: “I do not have a song called ‘Aliens’… but it sounds cool.”

Instead, Demi calls them “ETs.”

Tyson told TMZ: “All the aliens that I’ve ever met, they have no feelings.”

He did say that Demi was just being “considerate,” but he also wondered why Demi was “worried about offending them by calling them an alien.”

He insisted we don’t know what “is going on in the head of species of life from another planet?”

Tyson added: “When I refer to aliens — just to be specific — I always say ‘space aliens’. And then, what we used to call aliens on Earth — undocumented immigrants, that’s what the new term is for them, and I’m all in on that.

“So what that means is — if we all do that — the only invocation of the word ‘alien’ is for creatures from outer space that want to kill us all.”

Demi was asked if they would consider releasing a song about extra-terrestrials given their interest, but answered: “I feel like Katy Perry already did it,” referring to Katy’s single from 2011, ‘E.T.'”

Demi was then asked if that answer meant they had considered it previously, the ‘Cool For The Summer’ singer answered: “Not really, but I’m fast on my feet.”

The star claims to have had an out-of-this-world experience in Joshua Tree, California.

Demi recalls seeing a “blue orb that was about 50 feet away,” floating.”It was a beautiful and incredible experience,” Demi added.