We thought Ronda Rousey was down for the count this week after that brutal takedown on Reddit!
For those who missed it, she hosted an AMA to promote a graphic novel called Expecting The Unexpected, but commenters used it as an ambush. There were hundreds of questions, almost none of which were about that project or anything else that she wanted to talk about. Instead, they were all about her Sandy Hook denial!
Yes, way back in 2013 she reposted a Sandy Hook conspiracy theory video that said the school shooting was a massive hoax by the government, calling it at the time a “must-watch.” She later tweeted that “asking questions and doing research is more patriotic than blindly accepting what you’re told.” Oof.
Related: Donald Trump Staffer Reveals What He REALLY Says About His Followers Behind Closed Doors!
Clearly, Ronda didn’t see this coming. She didn’t answer a single question, and the AMA ended after an hour. Well, she’s posted an answer to all of it now.
She took to her X (Twitter) account late on Thursday night to post an apology for everything — for amplifying the conspiracy theory, for staying silent about it all these years, the whole thing. Ronda called sharing the video “the single most regrettable decision of my life.” She admitted:
“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.”
She spoke directly to those affected, saying:
“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 it. I’ve regretted it every day of my life since and will continue to do so until the day I die.”
But still she didn’t speak out for so many years! About that, she wrote:
“I can’t say how many times I’ve redrafted this apology over the last 11 years.”
But every time, she said, she “convinced myself it wasn’t the right time.” But that was BS, and she knew it. She wasn’t being called out on it, the media hadn’t picked it up and canceled her. She was thriving, as a matter of fact. Her movie career was just beginning. And 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.”
That last part, admitting how aware she is now about how selfish she was being by saying nothing, is the crucial part here. Because now she says:
“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.”
Yes. THIS is an apology. It’s not just admitting the wrongdoing — she’s not mitigating how bad it was, she’s not making the case for being forgiven. Just the opposite. She truly believes what she did was wrong, and she’s admitting she’s believed all this time she deserved to face consequences. No, not deserved. DESERVES. Present tense. It matters.
Wow. You just don’t see this kind of apology from someone for this kind of thing. Usually they’re too far down the rabbit hole to come out and admit how wrong they were. But in perhaps the most important part of her message, she speaks directly to others who have “fallen down the black hole of bulls**t,” delivering a message more important now than ever:
“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.”
Unfortunately we’ve seen that more and more starkly illustrated by QAnon followers the past couple years, several of whom have murdered their own families after being radicalized by nonsense. But Ronda shares a powerful message to people who have let themselves believe this stuff:
“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.”
Amazing. Really, truly unexpected. She said the exact right words. And, as she noted, it was all over a decade too late.
Read the full thing (below):
Wow.
Very, very well said. Thoughts, y’all? Share ’em (below).
[Image via Nicky Nelson/Joel Ginsburg/WENN]