Lol yeah my mates who were into him a few yrs back just kinda avoid talking much about it when its bought up.

I really don't blame them for fooling for it. They're largely sciency types with not a fantastic understanding of politics etc (though they are slowly becoming a bit more radicalised) so yeah, the whole 'oh excellent here's someone who is actually going to do space exploration properly now Nasa's budget is nearly zero' appealed for sure.