Former MMA fighter and professional wrestler Ronda Rousey has issued an online apology, which she admits is “11 years overdue,” for reposting a conspiracy video about the deadly 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on social media.
Rousey, an Olympic bronze medalist in judo, said reposting the video was “the most regrettable decision of my life” and that she didn’t even believe the video but was “so shocked by the truth that I instead looked for an alternative fiction to cling to.”
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 that she was afraid of drawing attention to the video over the years. Rousey said she had drafted “a thousandth apology” for her recent memoir, but a publisher urged her to delete it. She then convinced herself that an apology would reopen an emotional wound and “shed the label of ‘Sandy Hook truther.’”
“But honestly, I deserve to be hated, labeled, scorned and worse. I deserve to miss out on every opportunity, I should have been canceled, I deserved it. I still do,” Rousey wrote. “I apologize that this came 11 years too late, but to those affected by the Sandy Hook massacre, from the bottom of my heart and the depth of my soul, I apologize for the pain I caused.”
The issue of Rousey’s posting of the video recently came up on the social media platform Reddit when she invited users to ask her questions about her recently launched fundraising campaign for her first graphic novel. Some asked why she didn’t issue a strong apology for amplifying the conspiracy theory about the shooting.
After the shooting, which killed 20 freshmen and six teachers, lies were spread that the tragedy was a hoax. Families of victims, who were awarded $1.5 billion by a jury in 2022 for playing the role of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones have said they have been victims of years of harassment, 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, Rousey said she was “remorseful and ashamed” for the pain she caused to the victims of the massacre.
“I have regretted it every day since then and will until the day I die,” she wrote.
Rousey warned others against falling into the “black hole” of conspiracy theories.
“It doesn’t make you edgy or an independent thinker, you’re not doing your due diligence by considering every possibility by digesting these conspiracies. They will only make you feel powerless, scared, miserable and isolated,” she wrote. “You’re doing nothing but hurting others and yourself.”