"Except when they're joking, but you don't know enough about their field to tell if they're joking, so you just have to hope" is not a helpful message.
Whatever his goal actually was, it could have been achieved without damaging trust in scientists.
Does the Francosphere have the same issues with trusting science that the Anglosphere has?
(I'll see myself out)
snickers
The target audience got a kick out of it. I'm certain.
A predictable percentage of onlookers are predictably salty that they got fooled by a figure of authority.. I don't think an apology is really warranted. But they handled it well.
That said, in a world that is constantly trying to maliciously misinform a person, it's understandable that the audience is a bit touchy about being fucked with .
