Nearly a dozen years after a mostly forgotten-about social media post resurfaced, Ronda Rousey has apologized for what she called “the single most regrettable decision” of her life.
In the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Ct., in late 2012, Rousey reposted a conspiracy theory that, among other things, said the shooting was a hoax, a decision that Dana White defended at the time. During the Dec. 14, 2012, massacre, Adam Lanza killed his mother, then 20 children between the ages of 6-7 and six teachers at the school. He then killed himself.
Rousey later deleted the tweet and her comment on the video that went with it that she said was “extremely interesting” and “must-watch” content. But she posted a new tweet at the time that said her philosophy is “asking questions and doing research is more patriotic than blindly accepting what you’re told.”
But this past week, during a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” meant to promote her new graphic novel “Expecting the Unexpected,” things took a turn when she was inundated with questions and criticisms and reminders of her promotion of the conspiracy theory, and suddenly the MMA and WWE and sports world in general remember or knew for the first time that she went down that road.
Her late Thursday apology on social media cautions others against doing the same thing she did.
— Ronda Rousey (@RondaRousey) August 23, 2024
“I can’t say how many times I’ve redrafted this apology over the last 11 years,” Rousey posted. “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. But 11 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. By some miracle it seemingly slipped under the media’s radar, I was never asked about it so 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, and selfishly, inform even more people I was ignorant, self absorbed, and tone deaf enough to share one in the first place.
“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 bullsh*t by it being brought up again just so I could try to 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.
“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 to it. I’ve regretted it every day of my life since and will continue to do so until the day I die.
“And to anyone else that’s fallen down the black hole of bullsh*t. It doesn’t make you edgy, or an independent thinker, you’re not doing your due diligence entertaining every possibility by digesting these conspiracies. They will only make you feel powerless, afraid, miserable and isolated. You’re doing nothing but hurting others and yourself. 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.”
Conspiracy theories, largely from right-wing fringe groups, have claimed any number of things about the shooting since 2012, but most say the entire thing was faked by the government. Alex Jones, arguably the country’s most infamous conspiracy peddler and a past guest on UFC analyst Joe Rogan’s podcast, less than a year ago was found guilty of defaming families and victims in the massacre and is on the hook for nearly $1.5 billion in damages. Jones filed for bankruptcy less than two months later.
When Rousey reposted the video in January 2013, she had been named the UFC’s inaugural women’s bantamweight champion a couple months prior but hadn’t yet had her promotional debut. That came a month later when she defended her title against Liz Carmouche in the first women’s fight in UFC history.
Rousey, a UFC Hall of Famer, set the standard for women’s MMA after her arrival to the UFC from Strikeforce. After back-to-back title losses to Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes, she retired from MMA and took on a short-lived WWE career. She recently parted ways with that company and has been publicly critical of WWE head Vince McMahon, including saying he’s an “a**hole.”
Comments on her Twitter apology ran the gamut, which is to be expected from the MMA fanbase. While many lauded her for the apology and taking responsibility for it, as well as for her warning to others who buy into far-flung conspiracy theories, the other half accused her of everything from apologizing for a publicity stunt, to trying to avoid getting sued the way Jones did.
Rousey, 37, has been married to former UFC heavyweight Travis Browne since 2017. They have one daughter and a second child on the way, Rousey announced in July.
