Riding high in the wake of his best performance of the season, New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye floated a conspiracy theory during a Boston sports talk radio appearance.
“I don’t know about the moon [landing],” Maye, 24, said during a Monday, October 5 appearance on WEEI’s “Rich and Ken with Ted Johnson.” “I can see back in the day of why we would put on the mask if we went there. But I’m not really sure 200 percent if we went there or not.”
He added, “I wouldn’t say I’m leaning one way or the other. I just know I’m a little bit skeptical.”
Maye found an ally in cohost Rich Shertenlieb, who said, “Drake, you and I. Right here.”
“I’ve always been a, ‘We weren’t on the moon,’ conspiracy [theorist],” Shertenlieb continued. “I think it was [director] Stanley Kubrick who did the entire thing. He has put clues in all of his movies that he was the guy that directed the moon landing.”
The radio host continued, “Drake, there’s so much literature out there. You know what I’ll do? I’ll just forward it to you ‘cause I’ve read all of it. It’s not crazy. I absolutely believe we didn’t land on the moon.”
Maye, perhaps sensing he was wading into controversial waters, attempted to clarify his stance.
“I’m not 100 percent sure,” he said. “But I took a conspiracy class in college, actually, at North Carolina, which was pretty cool.”
Maye recalled how another conspiracy theory studied in class was the idea that “birds aren’t real” — a satirical movement meant to parody real-world misinformation and disinformation.
“Just like the government has a say in some of the things, you know, birds flying around and whether they’re videoing or listening or something along the lines of that,” Maye explained.
The Patriots quarterback did not reveal if he, in fact, thinks birds are actually government-made surveillance drones sent to listen to citizens’ conversations.
Maye was 22-for-37 passing for 269 yards and three touchdowns in a 29-26 win over the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, October 4. After a slow start to the season for the third-year quarterback, the performance was a huge step in the right direction as the Patriots improved their record to 2-2.
The moon landing conspiracy theory has been a popular one throughout the Boston sports community in recent months.
In March, Boston Celtics star Derrick White called himself “a non-moon landing guy” during an episode of his “White Noise” podcast.
White, 32, explained that the conversation about the moon landing was spurned by Celtics head coach, Joe Mazzulla.
“He’s on the treadmill and I’m lifting, and he just turned around and he’s like, ‘Do you believe we landed on the moon?,’” White recalled.
White added, “Me and Joe usually agree. We’re usually on a similar side.”
