Drake Maye had just finished talking football when the conversation suddenly left the Patriots and headed for the moon. Following New England’s win over Buffalo, the quarterback joined WEEI’s Rich and Ken with Ted Johnson, and was asked a question that had nothing to do with his performance, Mike Vrabel, or the Patriots’ season: which conspiracy theory he secretly believed. His answer quickly became the most unexpected part of the appearance.

Maye’s response centered on the Apollo moon landings. He did not say outright that the United States faked them, but he admitted that he is not convinced they happened.

“I don’t know about the moon, you know. I think it’s I can see back in the day of why we would put on the mass we went there, but I’m not really sure 200% if we went there or not. I wouldn’t say I’m leaning one way or the other. I just know I’m a little bit skeptical,” Maye said on the podcast.

The conversation then took an even stranger turn when the hosts revealed that they had their own moon-landing theory. The discussion brought up filmmaker Stanley Kubrick, who has long been at the center of a popular internet conspiracy theory claiming he helped stage the Apollo footage; they encountered plenty of material surrounding the subject and had even studied conspiracy theories in college.

“There’s so much literature out there. You know what? I’ll do, I’ll just forward it to you because I’ve read all of it. So it’s a, it’s a day. I, it’s not crazy. I absolutely believe we didn’t land on the moon.”

The historical record leaves little room for doubt. NASA says Apollo 11 launched on July 16, 1969, and reached the Moon four days later, on July 20. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the lunar surface, while Michael Collins stayed in orbit around the Moon. The crew returned to Earth on July 24.

Apollo 11 was also just the beginning. It was not the only crewed mission to successfully land on the Moon. NASA records six successful Apollo lunar landings between 1969 and 1972, with Apollo 17 becoming the final lunar-landing mission of the program. The missions returned lunar samples and deployed scientific equipment on the surface.

Maye’s moon comments also became more interesting when the hosts revealed that his curiosity about conspiracy theories was not completely new. Maye said he actually took a conspiracy class while he was in college at North Carolina, where he studied before entering the NFL.

“Couple comes, I took a conspiracy class in college, actually. Oh, which was pretty cool. They study obviously – Hitler being alive and our birds real, some of the classic ones that you hear about.”

“Just like the government has a say in some of the, you know, things, you know, birds flying around and whether they’re videoing and are listening or something along the lines of that,” Maye said.

Maye’s comments came during a season in which the Patriots quarterback has otherwise been the focus of much more conventional football questions. New England entered Week 5 after beating Buffalo 29-26, with Maye throwing three touchdown passes in the victory. Through four games in 2026, the Patriots have Maye at 854 passing yards, with four touchdowns and seven interceptions.

He entered the game after completing 59.5% of his passes in his previous outing, throwing three touchdowns and leading a late game-winning drive in Buffalo.

Maye had just finished another NFL game, but the final question took the Patriots quarterback far beyond football. For Maye, the answer was simply that he remains “a little bit skeptical” and was willing to have some fun with the idea.