Eleven years after she shared a video that touted conspiracy theories about the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, former UFC champion Ronda Rousey has issued an apology.
In a lengthy statement shared to X early Friday morning, Rousey said she’s regretted the post “every day of my life.”
In January 2013, about a month after a gunman entered Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., and killed 20 children and six staffers, Rousey shared a YouTube video to X (then Twitter) that cast doubt on the shooting. Rousey posted a link to the video and wrote, “Extremely interesting, and must-watch.”
“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,” Rousey said in her apology. “I quickly realized my mistake and took it down, but the damage was done.”
The 37-year-old pro wrestler said she’s drafted the apology several times over the last decade, but has never had the courage to speak out until now. One such attempt to apologize was in her recent memoir, Our Fight, but Rousey said her publisher “begged” to remove it, “saying it would overshadow everything else and do more harm than good.”
Rousey’s hesitancy to apologize was also in part due to fear that calling attention to the video would increase the reach of the conspiracy theories, and would “selfishly, inform even more people I was ignorant, self absorbed and tone deaf enough to share one in the first place.”
“But honestly, I deserve to be hated, labeled, detested, resented and worse for it,” Rousey wrote. “I deserve to lose out on every opportunity, I should have been canceled, I would have deserved it. I still do.”
In bolded text, Rousey continued: “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.”
Rousey then addressed others who may believe conspiracy theories, or as she said, people who have “fallen down the black hole of bulls—.”
“It doesn’t make you edgy, or an independent thinker, you’re not doing your due diligence entertaining every possibility by digesting these conspiracies,” Rousey wrote. “They will only make you feel powerless, afraid, miserable and isolated. You’re doing nothing but hurting others and yourself.”
She concluded, “Regardless of how many bridges you’ve burned over it, stop digging yourself a deeper hole, don’t get wrapped up in the sunk cost fallacy, no matter how long you’ve gone down the wrong road, you should still turn back.”
In the days after she shared the YouTube conspiracy video in 2013, Rousey did issue a brief apology.
“I never meant to insult or hurt anyone, sorry if anyone was offended,” the wrestler wrote on social media. “It was not my intention in the least.”
She did not make mention of the post again after that.
Rousey’s most recent apology was met with general positivity online, with many commenting the statement was “better late than never.”
“Never been a Ronda fan, but I can respect this. If you cannot hold yourself accountable, how can anybody expect to grow,” one user wrote on X.
“This is so clearly heartfelt that it’s hard to imagine anyone questioning it,” another commented. “People make mistakes. You clearly did. You realized yours quickly and not because of backlash.”
Other social media users speculated Rousey’s apology was triggered by a recent AMA, or “Ask Me Anything” session, on Reddit that saw the athlete inundated with questions about her initial posting of the video.
The Dec. 14, 2012, Sandy Hook school shooting is the second-deadliest school shooting to ever occur in the U.S., behind the 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech.
Unfounded conspiracy theories about the Sandy Hook massacre have circulated since it happened, often championed by controversial public figures like Infowars host Alex Jones.
Jones, who for years told his audience the shooting was a hoax, was sued by the family members of Sandy Hook victims and ordered to pay US$1.5 billion in 2022 for his false claims. The trial saw harrowing testimony from family members, who said they still dealt with intense harassment from conspiracy theorists.
A federal judge ordered the liquidation of Jones’ personal assets in June, but dismissed his company’s separate bankruptcy case.
Jones has since acknowledged that the Sandy Hook shooting did happen. Despite that, he’s continually said Democrats and the “deep state” are conspiring to shut down his companies and eliminate his right to free speech.