The New Zealand Herald reported on Lawrence Krauss’s absence from the tour there in May.

A celebrity atheist facing a raft of allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards women has backed out of a New Zealand tour.

Lawrence Krauss was due to speak on a double-bill with Richard Dawkins at the Science in the Soul tour in May in Auckland and Christchurch, but the promoter this morning announced he would no longer be on the bill.

Instead, Dawkins would appear at the two Science in the Soul shows alone, with a new co-host to be announced, Australia-based Think Inc said.

Then not alone but with a new co-host. Anyway – do we think there’s any chance the new co-host will be a woman?

Not a lot, is my view. They’re stuck in the loop – only men are famous enough to sell tickets, because only men get asked to do these things, because only men are famous enough to sell tickets, because only men get asked to do these things, etc. Women never get the chance to get famous enough to be asked to do these things, because everyone is too busy assuming that only men put bums on seats.

The move comes after Auckland University of Technology pulled its sponsorship of the tour, and New Zealand event management firm Loop had also backed out.

It’s not clear if they will change their minds now that he has decided not to go.

A number of Krauss’ public speaking arrangements have already been cancelled in America since allegations spanning over a decade about his inappropriate behaviour towards women were recently published by news website Buzzfeed.

Krauss has strongly denied all the allegations and responded at length to them today.

“Has my language or demeanour sometimes made others feel uncomfortable? Clearly yes, and for that I sincerely apologise,” he wrote.

“Nevertheless, the BuzzFeed article effectively paints a false picture of me and my relationships with others through a mosaic constructed largely out of anonymous hearsay and a web of often vague innuendo.”

So it’s pure coincidence that there are many such claims about Krauss while there are none (at least that I’ve ever heard of) about for instance Sam Harris?

I doubt it.