A physics professor on Monday compared the “hype” surrounding climate change to the Holocaust on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
Co-host Joe Kernen first quizzed Happer, a Princeton University professor and chairman of the Marshall Institute, on on whether money given to the Marshall Institute by Exxon Mobil created a conflict of interest.
Happer said that he’s gotten some flack from members of the scientific community, but brushed it off as not a big deal.
Co-host Andrew Sorkin then jumped into ask Happer why he “doesn’t believe in climate change at all.”
“Just a minute,” Happer responded, cutting Sorkin off. “I believe in climate change. Shut up!”
Sorkin then asked the professor about a 2009 interview with the Daily Princetonian, in which he compared labeling carbon dioxide a pollutant to Nazi propaganda.
“You know, I get called a denier. And anyone who objects to all of the hype gets called a denier. That’s supposed to make me a Holocaust denier. I’m getting tired of that,” Happer responded. “The comment I made was, the demonization of carbon dioxide is just like the demonization of the poor Jews under Hitler. Carbon dioxide is actually a benefit to the world, and so were the Jews.”
And then at the end of the interview he insisted that he hadn’t “taken a dime from Exxon.”
Watch the video via Media Matters: