Former UFC champion and WWE Superstar Ronda Rousey has issued an apology for a post on Twitter about the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting…from 11 years ago. Folks, this is what Cancel Culture does to you. Are we really supposed to go back and issue an apology for every dumb thing we said and did over the span of our lifetimes? It’s ridiculous. Just for the record, I don’t think she needed to issue an apology. This was over a decade ago. Time for the radical left to follow Elsa’s example and “let it go.”
An article from The Hollywood Reporter said that Rousey made a statement on social media in which she expressed her regret for having shared a conspiracy theory video that made the suggestion the shooting was staged. Yes, this was indeed a bit of an idiotic thing to say, especially since people lost their children that day. And if it had happened yesterday, sure, issue an apology for doing something dumb. But it’s been over a decade now. Is an apology really necessary?
“I can’t say how many times I’ve redrafted this apology over the last 11 years,” she said in her statement. “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,” Rousey added. “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.”
If you didn’t really believe the theory, why would you share it? Especially without stating clearly that you weren’t buying the bill of goods being sold in the video? You could have spelled that out and asked for other people’s opinions on it. I think she probably did believe it, to some degree, which is why she put it out there on her timeline. If you’re really going to “cancel” yourself and self-censor, then go all the way with it and admit you really did buy into the theory.
Rousey mentioned that she “quickly realized” her mistake and took the tweet down, so her social media post thankfully “slipped under the media’s radar.” She was “never asked about it” so she did not address it again until now, in fear that speaking on it previously “would have the opposite of the intended effect — it could increase the views of these conspiracy videos and selfishly inform even more people I was ignorant, self-absorbed and tone deaf enough to share one in the first place.”
She also wrote that she initially wanted to include her apology in her memoir Our Fight, which came out earlier this year. However, her publisher “begged me to take it out, saying it would overshadow everything else and do more harm than good.”
Definitely should have listened to her editor. There’s a reason why they told her to take it out. It’s not something that really needed to be addressed. As a fan of MMA, I’ve followed Rousey’s career. I’ve not run across any comments, personally, on her social media accounts that call for her to confront this post. It’s ancient history. Or, I should say, it was. Now it’s back at the forefront of the media.
The former UFC fighter believes she deserves “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 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 added in her statement. “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 I die.”
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Rousey also warned folks who she claims have continued to push hurtful conspiracy theories, saying, “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.”
— Ronda Rousey (@RondaRousey) August 23, 2024
“Her since-deleted 2013 tweet featured a video from the YouTube channel ThinkOutsideTheTV, which claimed that the families of Sandy Hook victims were paid actors. Rousey wrote that the clip was “extremely interesting and [a] must-watch,” per Bleacher Report,” the article went on to report.
When Rousey first posted the video, she didn’t apologize for it, but actually doubled down, saying, , “I just figure asking questions and doing research is more patriotic than blindly accepting what you’re told.”
@BloodstainLane thanks, I just figure asking questions and doing research is more patriotic than blindly accepting what you're told
— Ronda Rousey (@RondaRousey) January 15, 2013
Believe it or not, that Ronda Rousey is much more correct than the new Ronda Rousey. We should always question the narrative and do our due diligence to ensure what the media feeds us is the truth. Sometimes that means asking tough questions about horrific situations.