Rosie O’Donnell issued a video apology Sunday after suggesting that the Minneapolis school shooter was a “Republican, MAGA person.”
Horror unfolded at Annunciation Catholic School last Wednesday after two children aged 8 and 10 were shot dead by 23-year-old Robin Westman as they sat in the pews of the church. Fifteen other children aged six to 15 and three parishioners in their 80s were also wounded in the attack.
“Saw about the Minnesota shooting, and it brought me right back to Columbine in 1999 when I just could not get it through my head that students in America were shooting each other in schools,” O’Donnell said in a since-deleted video shared last Thursday.
“What do you know? It was a white guy, Republican, MAGA person. What do you know? White supremacists,” she continued.
However, investigators found that the shooter had expressed hatred towards President Donald Trump, calling for his death in a message scrawled on a firearm’s magazine. They also wrote disparaging messages about Christians, Black people, Hispanic people, Jews and Israel.
On Sunday, O’Donnell posted another video admitting she was wrong about the shooter’s political identity.
“I knew a lot of you were very upset about the video I made before I went away for a few days,” she said, adding that had not had time to read through the comments until Sunday.
“You are right. I did not do my due diligence before I made that emotional statement, and I said things about the shooter that were incorrect.
“I assumed, like most shooters, they followed a standard MO and had standard, you know, feelings of… you know, NRA-loving kind of gun people,” O’Donnell continued. “Anyway, the truth is I messed up, and when you mess up, you fess up. I’m sorry. This is my apology video and I hope it’s enough.”
@rosie my apologies to maga for saying the school shooter was one of u - that is incorrect- i made a mistake - i didn’t research- im sorry- i assumed and thats always wrong - #uniteamerica #RonlyHOPE
♬ original sound - Rosie ODonnell
In the comments section, some critics expressed their dissatisfaction with O’Donnell’s statement, with one calling it “ the most unapologetic apology ever.”
O’Donnell replied to one comment, writing, “I was wrong - and I apologize - what more do [you] want?”
The young victims in the shooting were later identified by their families as eight-year-old Fletcher Merkel and 10-year-old Harper Moyski.
Westman died by a self-inflicted gunshot as law enforcement rushed to the scene.
O’Donnell moved to Ireland in January with her youngest child, Clay, in response to Trump’s return to the White House.
The comedian has a long-running feud with Trump, stretching back to 2006 when she was a host on The View.
Touching briefly on her relationship with the current president back in March, she said: “I knew that it would really tax me emotionally to have to do that [live in Trump’s America]. So I'm very happy that we made the decision that we made.”
O’Donnell said that it is “heartbreaking to see what's happening politically” in the United States but thanked the people of Ireland for welcoming her. “It's been pretty wonderful, I have to say. The people are so loving and so kind, so welcoming. And I'm very grateful.”
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