More than 11 years after sharing a conspiracy video questioning the facts behind the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut, former UFC champion Ronda Rousey is apologizing.
In a lengthy post on social media, Rousey said that she made "the single most regrettable decision of my life" when she shared a YouTube video on social media that pushed a conspiracy theory about the December 2012 massacre in Newtown, Connecticut that killed 20 children and six staffers. According to Bleacher Report, she captioned the post: "Extremely interesting, and must-watch."
The post quickly sparked outrage and Rousey soon deleted it.
"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," Rousey wrote in her apology. "I quickly realized my mistake and took it down, but the damage was done."
The former MMA fighter said that "by some miracle", the post slipped under the media's radar and she 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 on those conspiracy videos, and selfishly inform even more people I was ignorant, self absorbed and tone deaf enough to share on in the first place."
The 37-year-old said she had wanted to apologize in the years since sharing the controversial video – even drafting the apology multiple times – but "convinced myself it wasn't the right time or that I'd be causing even more damage by giving it."
She said she drafted an apology to include in her last memoir but her publisher begged her to take it out as it would overshadow everything else and "do more harm than good."
"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 continued.
A recent AMA, or "Ask Me Anything" session, on the social media site Reddit finally convinced her it was time to apologize. The AMA was flooded with questions about her initial post. In her apology, Rousey acknowledged that her remarks were a long time coming.
"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. "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."
"I've regretted it every day of my life since and will continue to do so until the day I die," she continued.
Rousey ended her apology by reminding anyone who has "fallen down the black hole of bull***" and conspiracy theories that it "doesn't make you edgy, or an independent thinker."
"They will only make you feel powerless, afraid, miserable and isolated. You're doing nothing but hurting others and yourself," she cautioned. "No matter how long you've gone down the wrong road, you should still turn back."
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