Julianna Pena apologizes for previous COVID-19 comments: “I am just angry and frustrated”

Julianna Pena has apologized for her previous comments about COVID-19 on the Joe Rogan Experience.

Last month, the UFC bantamweight champion went on the show to discuss her victory over Amanda Nunes. During the podcast, the topic of COVID-19 came up, and Pena said that she believed that the virus is a “money grab“.

Julianna Pena caught flack for her comments, as did Joe Rogan for some of his remarks on the virus. Now, ‘The Venezuelan Vixen’ has walked back her comments about COVID-19 during a media day for the 30th season of The Ultimate Fighter.

Julianna Pena stops Amanda Nunes at UFC 269

“I can’t speak for Joe, I can only speak for myself and I took a little heat on that as well. What I mean to say is, once again, my words were a little bit misconstrued. I am tired, I am exhausted. We are going on this pandemic two years going on three years now, I just want things to go back to normal. I realize that they probably won’t but I didn’t mean to come across as insensitive, especially for the fact that I had COVID. Everybody that I know had COVID. I lost my aunt in Venezuela, I lost many people that were near and dear to me.”

Pena continued, “It absolutely is real. I’m just angry and frustrated and exhausted over the whole situation because I just am wanting things to go back to normal. And so if I offended anybody by my comments on COVID, please I would like to apologize. That was not by any means what I meant to say. I just meant to say that I’m frustrated with the way that the world is right now.”

The apology has come just days after Rogan also has apologized. The UFC commentator has recently been under fire for both his comments on the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as prior use of racial slurs on his podcast.

What do you think about Julianna Pena’s comments about COVID-19?