Believers: How do you feel about the fact that Stephen Hawking is claiming that the afterlife isn't real?

I'm just going to nip this in the bud and say it's a bit funny how, if instead, Stephen Hawking was saying that he knew for a fact the afterlife exists the theists would be clamoring "See! Stephen Hawking even believes! And he's smart, so you should believe too!". But since he's not, it'll be an issue of "appeal to authority" fallacy.