Former mixed martial arts champion and professional wrestler Ronda Rousey has announced Issued an online apologywho admits she was “11 years late,” for reposting a video on social media about the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, which killed 20 first-graders and six teachers.
Olympic bronze medalist in judo Ronda Rousey said reposting the video was “the most regrettable decision of my life,” and that she didn’t even believe the video, but “was so horrified by the truth that I was looking for an alternative fantasy to cling to instead.”
Rousey said she realized her mistake and quickly deleted the post, but “the damage was done.” She said the media never asked her about the post, and she was afraid to draw attention to the video over the years. Rousey said she drafted “one apology” for her latest memoir, but a publisher urged her to delete it. She then convinced herself that an apology would reopen an emotional wound and cause more suffering for others so she could “get rid of the stigma of being a Sandy Hook conspiracy theorist.”
“But honestly, I deserved to be hated, stigmatized, disrespected and worse. I deserved to lose every opportunity, I should have been canceled, I would have deserved it. And I still do,” Rousey wrote. “I apologize for this 11 years late, but to those affected by the Sandy Hook massacre, from the bottom of my heart and the depths of my soul, I am so sorry for the hurt I have caused.”
A video that Rousey recently posted on Reddit went viral when she invited users to ask her questions about her fundraising campaign for her first graphic novel. Some wondered why she didn’t offer a more robust apology for amplifying the conspiracy theory about the shooting.
After the Newtown, Connecticut, shooting, conspiracy theories began circulating online that the tragedy was a hoax. The families of the victims, who won $1.5 billion in damages from a jury in 2022 over the role played by Alex Jones, said they had endured years of torment, threats and abuse by people who believed such lies.
A spokesman for the attorney representing the families declined to comment on Rousey’s apology.
In her statement, Ronda Rousey said she was “remorseful and ashamed” for the pain she caused to those affected by the massacre.
“I have regretted it every day of my life since then and will continue to until the day I die,” she wrote.
Ronda Rousey has warned others not to fall into the “black hole” of conspiracy theories.
“It doesn’t make you nervous or an independent thinker, you’re not doing your due diligence to consider all the possibilities by absorbing these conspiracies. It only makes you feel helpless, scared, miserable, and isolated,” she wrote. “You’re only hurting others and yourself.”