Why Ronda Rousey apologized 11 years after sharing Sandy Hook conspiracy theory
Former UFC and WWE star Ronda Rousey said she deserves to be hated and should have been canceled more than a decade ago for sharing a Sandy Hook conspiracy video on social media.
Taking to X on Friday, Rousey shared a lengthy statement which included an apology for when she reposted a conspiracy video the platform in 2013 about the elementary school shooting in Sandy Hook, Conn. in which 26 people — including 20 children — were killed in December 2012.
“I can’t say how many times I’ve redrafted this apology over the last 11 years. How many times I’ve convinced myself it wasn’t the right time or that I’d be causing even more damage by giving it,” Rousey, 37, wrote, referring to her post.
“But eleven years ago I made the single most regrettable decision of my life. I watched a Sandy Hook conspiracy video and reposted it on Twitter.
“I didn’t even believe it but was so horrified at the truth that I was grasping for an alternative fiction to cling to instead. I quickly realized my mistake and took it down, but the damage was done.”
Rousey, who’s currently pregnant with her second child, explained that her 2013 post “slipped under the media’s radar,” and she never spoke of it again.
She called herself “ignorant, self-absorbed and tone deaf” for sharing the video.
Her apology came after she did an “ask me anything” with fans in a Reddit post to promote her first graphic novel, “EXPECTING THE UNEXPECTED.”
Many asked about her past tweet in the comments, with one person posted a photo of children who were killed in the massacre.
Prior to her apology, one person asked if Rousey would be issuing an apology regarding her post in her forthcoming graphic novel.
Rousey explained that she wrote an apology to include in her memoir, “Our Fight,” which published in April, but her publisher “begged” her to take it out.
“But honestly I deserve to be hated, labeled, detested, resented and worse for it,” the pro wrestler continued. “I deserve to lose out on every opportunity, I should have been canceled, I would have deserved it. I still do.
“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 depth of my soul I am so so sorry for the hurt I caused.
“I can’t even begin to imagine the pain you’ve endured and words cannot describe how thoroughly remorseful and ashamed I am of myself for contributing it.
“I’ve regretted it every day of my life since and will continue to do so until the day I die.”
Rousey announced in July that she is expecting her second child with husband Travis Browne.
The couple share a two-year-old daughter, La’akea Makalapuaokalanipō.
