Mariano Rivera Covered Up Child Sex Abuse Crimes in His Church

Mariano Rivera may be the greatest pitcher of all time. I know he only pitched one inning a night but every pitch he threw landed in a mitt. You could not score runs against this alien.

The New York Yankees don’t win all those championships without Mariano making professional hitters look like me in the batting cages, afraid of getting hit with the ball.

And now, several years after being the only player in baseball history to be elected into the Hall of Fame unanimously, Mariano Rivera just blew the biggest save of his entire life.

A new report claims Mariano and his wife Clara attempted to cover up sexual abuse against a minor in their church.

The young victim was allegedly abused by an older minor girl, identified only as “MG,” during a 2018 summer internship at the Ignite Life Center in Gainesville, Fla. that was supported by the Riveras’ church, reported local outlet Gainesville Public Information Services.

Clara Rivera, who’s said to be in charge of Refuge of Hope’s day-to-day operations, allegedly convinced the girl’s family to let her attend the internship in Florida. But the girl’s mother reportedly became worried after a particular phone call from her daughter, and contacted Clara Rivera to report her concerns.

According to the suit, the Riveras then traveled to the summer camp after promising to investigate the matter but instead took steps to cover up the abuse.

“Rather than take sufficient action to end the sexual abuse of Jane Doe, the Riveras each separately isolated and intimidated Jane Doe to remain silent about her abuse by MG to avoid causing trouble for Refuge of Hope and the Ignite Life Summer Internship,” the complaint states, as cited by both The Independent and Gainesville Public Information Services.

The report goes on to claim the Rivera’s later invited the victim to a barbecue at their house—with no parents—where she was once again alone and unsupervised with her abuser.

Oh, the New York Daily News also sneaks in that another pastor’s son was accused of abusing this same girl back in 2021.

Yike.

Obviously, none of us know what actually happened with this underage girl but it should shock no one that Mariano would prioritize his brand over the safety of a young girl—just look at how he grew up.

The New York Yankees signed him when he was 21 years old and he retired at 43. His entire adult life was spent playing for an organization dedicated to glorifying their own reputation.

It’s 2025 and Yankees players still aren’t allowed to grow beards.

George Steinbrenner took Mariano into a dark boardroom one day and taught him that there is nothing more important than the brand.

So of course Mariano was told about sexual abuse happening in his church and elected to protect his church’s reputation over actually helping this girl.

I used Trump in the featured image for this article 1.) so I could steal free clicks and 2.) I feel like a lot of people in this country feel powerless—especially after the inauguration ended with an avalanche of executive orders all meant to harm some group of marginalized people.

I know folks feel helpless, unable to change the world around them.

Selena Gomez woke up Monday morning and wept for all of her Instagram followers because she felt incapable of stopping the atrocities in this world.

For a lot of people, life is about to get harder. For others who consume the daily news, it’s going to feel like taking daily L’s.

But I wanted to be sincere for a second and say that companies will always do what’s in the best interest of companies and that’ll only be accelerated the next 4 years as everyone fights for the final seats in a game of musical chairs in the ballroom as the Titanic plummets to the bottom of the sea.

However, we still have each other.

We can still protect each other.

Whether it’s ICE kicking down front doors to kidnap anyone with a slight accent—to a teenage girl getting sexually harassed at the local church—we don’t need to rely on these institutions anymore. They’ve clearly given up on us.

Oh, and fuck Mariano Rivera.

If you enjoyed what you read, head over to our Substack. We’ve got more content making fun of the ridiculous world we live in, sent directly to your email inbox daily.

Follow us over on TikTok, Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. Or shoot me an email at Deadseriousmailbag@gmail.com. Let’s chat, bay-beeeee.