Hawking is worshipped because people feel sorry for him. I dare anyone to mention one accomplishment other than being in a wheelchair. That is his super power. He just said Trump was going to raise the temperature of the planet by 250 degrees. That is not going to happen, and so that means I am more intelligent than he is, and he is a loon.
He wrote a bestselling book and has advanced some theories in physics but all that pales in comparison to playing poker on Star Trek and Words with Friends with Sheldon Cooper on Big Bang.
Somebody has to pay for that wheelchair and medical care and that somebody is the government.
He’s a narrative parrot. Polly want a cracker?
...and aside from cameos on Big Bang Theory, he’s a worthless fraud.