MMA fighter turned pro wrestler Ronda Rousey finally apologized for making Sandy Hook truther comments after 11 years. To her credit, it was a thorough, well-crafted apology that didn't hedge or dodge her accountability. Less to her credit, the apology came only after she was pressed and roasted in a recent Reddit AMA.
Rousey questioned the reality of Sandy Hook — the massacre that left 20 children and six school staff members dead — back in January 2013 when she shared a YouTube conspiracy theory video, calling it "extremely interesting and must-watch." She caught a lot of flak at the time but never apologized, instead following up that "doing research is more patriotic than blindly accepting what you're told."
More than a decade later, she's issued an actual apology.
"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," she wrote in a lengthy note posted to X. "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 claimed she has drafted apologies over the years and even considered including one in her latest memoir. But she wrote that she held off issuing the apology, instead wondering if it would do more harm than good by leading people to conspiracies.
"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," Rousey wrote.
Tweet may have been deleted
Tweet may have been deleted
However, this emotional apology came after Rousey faced pushback, even though she wrote in the note that her comments mostly skirted media attention. She did a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Tuesday, which went horribly. Users flooded her with questions about Sandy Hook. It would be...quite the coincidence...that Rousey was finally moved to share her apology, and it wasn't related to Reddit holding her feet to the fire. The site Awful Announcing wrote that she ignored the Sandy Hook questions during the AMA while answering others.
The apology from Rousey was appropriate for the extremely hurtful choice to contribute to such harmful conspiracies spreading online. But it didn't come out of the blue or a sudden desire to do what was right. It came after bad headlines and lots of questions from Redditors.
In her apology, Rousey warned that others should not follow the path she took 11 years ago.
"It doesn't make you edgy, or an independent thinker, you're not doing your due diligence entertaining every possibility by digesting these conspiracies," she wrote. "They will only make you feel powerless, afraid, miserable and isolated. You're doing nothing but hurting others and yourself."
