Anti-science claims have never been more popular. The first half of NBA All-Star Weekend was dominated by flat-earth conspiracy talk from Kyrie Irving, and it appears one NFL free agent has a few kooky theories of his own.
The Miami Dolphins acquired William Hayes from the L.A. Rams this week week, and local reporters sat down for a conference call with the 31-year-old defensive end to get to know him a little better. Hayes spent some time discussing the gridiron, of course, but the interview will likely be remembered more for several wild theories Hayes claims to believe in.
Hayes is best known for being the guy on Hard Knocks who believes in mermaids. Because he's on record as a mermaid truther, Miami reporters thought they'd ask him if he had any other controversial opinions. He was happy to oblige, and claims he "just can't roll with" the existence of dinosaurs:
I go to the dinosaur museums and they tell me, ‘Oh, you see the fossils.’ Then, you might see one bone that’s the actual fossil they dug up and everything else is just pieces they put together around the fossil and created this T-rex.
"One bone" on a dinosaur skeleton would be more evidence of dinosaurs than has ever been uncovered on mermaids, but Hayes didn't back down from his stance on the fantastic aquatic creatures. He even went to far as to reference a Disney character in his claim, asking no one in particular, "Who is to say they can't be an Ariel floating down in the water somewhere?"
The new Dolphins player would go on to comment on the moon landing, claiming men have never been to Earth's natural satellite.
This isn't the first time Hayes has been in the news for his dinosaur beliefs. In a hilarious sketch for his late-night show, Jimmy Kimmel took Hayes to the L.A. Natural History Museum last November, and it didn't appear to sway him at all:
Hayes told Kimmel that if a mermaid was attractive enough—and he brought up Ariel again—that he would "give it to her," so maybe this whole thing is Hayes hoping to fulfill some sort of fantasy. This is a judgment-free zone, but maybe put that Blu-Ray of The Little Mermaid into storage for a while.
There's plenty of ocean surrounding Hayes in his new Miami home, so we look forward to his future investigations into aquatic life.
