- The former UFC Champion had briefly posted a video about the massacre 11 years ago before deleting it
- A reddit AMA with Rousey was abandoned this week when people flooded the comments asking about the video
- Rousey says she has “regretted it every day of her life”
Ronda Rousey has issued a lengthy apology on social media after her sharing of a Sandy Hook conspiracy theory video once again came to light during a recent Reddit AMA.
The former UFC Champion briefly posted the video onto her Twitter account 11 years ago before promptly deleting it. The post itself didn’t actually receive much if any media attention, although it was discussed among MMA and wrestling fans quite frequently online whenever Rousey’s name would come up in conversation on social media or in discussion forums.
However, this week, Rousey took part in an Ask Me Anything session on pro wrestling subreddit Squared Circle to promote a Kickstarter for a graphic novel, only for the comments to be inundated with wrestling fans asking about the Sandy Hook massacre and the video she shared over a decade ago.
Rousey abruptly left the AMA without answering a single question and prompted a deluge of people posting about the disastrous session on social media.
The Sandy Hook Massacre occurred in December, 2012 at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, when 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot and killed 26 people, 20 of whom were children between six and seven-years-old, before killing himself. Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones would falsely label the tragedy as a hoax, perpetrated by people who opposed America’s second amendment right to bear arms. Several of the families who lost their children in the massacre successfully sued Jones, who was ordered to pay $1.5bn in damages to them in 2022.
Following the AMA debacle, Rousey finally addressed the situation and her sharing of the video, via a post on X, where she explained what had happened and expressed the regret she had felt every day since she shared the video, revealing that she had almost issued an apology several times over the years.
In the statement, Rousey writes, “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 apologise 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.”
Rousey finished up her MMA career in 2016 after back-to-back losses against Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes at UFC 193 and UFC 207. Before the loss to Holm, Rousey had gone 12 fights undefeated and was the UFC’s Women’s Bantamweight Champion. Rousey transitioned to pro wrestling in 2018, signing a contract with WWE, where she would go onto become one of the first women to headline a WrestleMania, at WrestleMania 35 in 2019, winning three World Titles along the way. Rousey finished up with WWE in 2023 and has since worked briefly on the independent circuit.
