Rosie O’Donnell issued an apology for falsely accusing the Minneapolis Catholic church shooter of being a MAGA supporter. According to reports, O’Donnell posted a video last week suggesting the 23-year-old shooter was a “Republican, MAGA person, white supremacist.” “The truth is, I messed up,” O’Donnell said in an apology video. “I’m sorry. This is my apology video,” she added.
O’Donnell’s claims were quickly disproven when it was revealed the shooter had written “Kill Donald Trump” on one of his gun magazines. Despite this, she continued to assert incorrect statements, claiming the attack resembled the 1999 Columbine massacre and labeling the perpetrator a “white guy, Republican, MAGA person, white supremacist.” She also criticized the NRA as a “terrorist organization” and condemned America for prioritizing guns over children.
The shooter, identified as Westman, was later described as a self-identified transgender woman with a nihilistic worldview and an obsession with past mass shootings. Public reaction to O’Donnell’s apology was mixed, with some calling it insincere. One critic wrote, “She’s not sorry, she still means exactly what she said,” while another noted, “This is what is keeping this country so divided.”
O’Donnell’s remarks followed a shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis, where gunfire shattered stained-glass windows and forced students and parishioners to seek cover. FBI Director Kash Patel described the attack as an act of domestic terrorism driven by a “hate-filled ideology.”