NEW YORK — Veteran referee Ken Mauer has some wild ideas about the COVID-19 vaccine and they’re costing him a job in the NBA.
Mauer, 66, said in a recent interview that he’s refused the shot because it would alter his DNA and contains aborted fetal cells, assertions that could be debunked by fact checking. Mauer’s appeal for a religious exemption was rejected, he said, and he was ruled ineligible by the NBA since the start of the season because of the vaccine mandate.
Still, Mauer, who has officiated nearly 2,000 NBA games over 33 seasons, isn’t relenting.
“I’m here to say there’s a lot of people that didn’t want to take this in the NBA,” Mauer said on the podcast “Fearless with Jason Whitlock.”
“And you can call it whatever you want, forced, coerced. And now they’re taking it. And now there’s boosters. And they’re scared. And I’m not. And I’m never going to take that.”
Mauer, who is Catholic, claimed that “8 or 9″ referees filed for religious exemptions, but only two — Mauer and Mark Ayotte — still refused the shot after getting denied. Mauer lawyered up and filed an appeal with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Although NBA players negotiated through their union to make the vaccine optional, other league employees (such as referees and coaches) are required to get the shot.
Mauer, a self-professed health fanatic, said he and his wife have done research on the vaccines, leading them to believe the ingredients contradict God’s will.
“The mRNA that’s in this vaccine — whether people want to believe it or not — screws with or has an effect on your own DNA. It changes who you are as a human being,” Mauer said. “Our Lord Jesus Christ created you. This vaccine is shooting mRNA into your system, which is altering your DNA. That’s against what every Christian believes in. That’s against our faith. This is the way God created us. I’m not saying I can’t get stitches or I can’t repair a knee. That has nothing to do with your DNA as a human being. That’s what this vaccine is doing to people. I won’t allow that happen to me.”
According to the CDC, “COVID-19 vaccines do not change or interact with your DNA in any way.” Pope Francis also stated that getting the vaccine is a “moral obligation.”
Mauer then explained his other big issue.
“(The vaccine) has aborted fetal cells,” he said. “Whether in the testing stage or in the actual ingredient.”
Multiple sources, including a fact check by the Associated Press, say aborted fetal cells are not used in the mRNA vaccines.
Mauer, who was convicted of felony tax evasion in 2000 (although that was only for $26,500 in unreported income on downgraded airline tickets), also said the NBA’s support of the Black Lives Matter movement became divisive.
In the wake of George Floyd’s murder in 2020, Mauer said the referees participated in a conference call exceeding five hours labeled “Black Lives Matter.” He said a white referee was verbally attacked for criticizing the “looting and rioting” in Minnesota.
“One of the worst experiences I’ve ever experienced as a professional referee,” Mauer said. “Because one or two white referees tried to say something, like one man said, ‘Gentlemen I’m with you. I don’t understand your plight because I’m not Black, but I’ve been with you for 30 years, I’m with you. However, you can’t possibly think what’s going on with the rioting and looting in Minneapolis is right.’
“People just blew up on him. Just literally blew up on him. Just berating this man. Very few white referees said anything on the call.”
