Ronda Rousey has issued an apology eleven years after sharing a conspiracy video related to the Sandy Hook massacre.
Earlier this week, Rousey participated in an AMA (“Ask Me Anything”) on Reddit to promote her Kickstarter campaign for her upcoming comic book project.
During the AMA, questions surrounding Rousey’s decision to share a conspiracy video flooded the section and led to Rousey finally addressing the incident.
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 explained that it fell under the radar, was never brought up by the media, and felt that addressing it would amplify other conspiracy videos and promote the same content she regretted posting.
I drafted a thousandth apology to include in my last memoir, but my publisher begged me to take it out, saying it would overshadow everything else and do more harm than good. So I convinced myself that apologizing would just reopen the wound for no other reason than me selfishly trying to make myself feel better, that I would hurt those suffering even more and possibly lead more people down the black hole of conspiracy bullshit by it being brought up again just so I could shake the label of being a “Sandy Hook truther.”
But honestly I deserve to be hated, labeled, detested, resented and worse for it. I deserve to lose out on every opportunity, I should have been canceled, I would have deserved it. I still do.
In December 2012, a gunman murdered 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, including 20 children. The gunman killed himself after the murders.
Conspiracy theories were attached to the shooting and were most prominently shared by Alex Jones, who was sued for defamation by the parents of the victims. Jones has been ordered to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in damages to the families for sharing lies that the massacre was a hoax.
Rousey included a warning in her apology of anyone falling into a “black hole of bullshit” regarding baseless conspiracies, which can cause immense harm to those impacted by the real events.
She also acknowledged her regret that she was apologizing too late:
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 sorry for the hurt that 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 to it. I’ve regretted it every day of my life since and will continue to do so until the day I die.
The full apology is available on her X account.
— Ronda Rousey (@RondaRousey) August 23, 2024
The National Philanthropic Trust has a listing of multiple organizations that have been launched to aid those impacted by the Sandy Hook massacre including Family & Children’s Aid, Kids in Crisis, and the Newtown Parent Connection
