Former MMA fighter Ronda Rousey apologized Friday for sharing a Sandy Hook conspiracy theory video on social media 11 years ago, saying “I should have been canceled.”
The pro wrestler shared a lengthy statement on social media Friday, noting that she has wanted to apologize for the incident for a long time, but didn’t want to draw further attention to the problematic conspiracy theories.
“I can’t say how many times I’ve redrafted this apology over the last 11 years,” Rousey wrote. “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 said that reposting the conspiracy video was “the single most regrettable decision of my life.”
“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,” she added.
— Ronda Rousey (@RondaRousey) August 23, 2024
Rousey did remove the video quickly after posting it and said, “By some miracle, it seemingly slipped under the media’s radar. I never spoke of it again, afraid that calling attention to it would have the opposite of the intended effect — it could increase the views of those conspiracy videos.”
The former MMA fighter revealed that she had drafted an apology to include in her most recent memoir, however, her publisher asked her to remove it, “saying it would overshadow everything else and do more harm than good,” according to Rousey’s apology post.
“So I convinced myself that apologizing would just reopen the wound for no other reason than me selfishly trying to make myself feel better,” Rousey added.
“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,” she continued.
Rousey also apologized that her statement “came 11 years too late,” adding that “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.”
“Words cannot describe how thoroughly remorseful and ashamed I am of myself for contributing to it,” Rousey said. “I’ve regretted it every day of my life since and will continue to do so until the day I die.”
