Actor Steve Rannazzisi apologized on Twitter Wednesday to families who lost loved ones in the 9/11 attacks for lying about being there on that fateful day.
The atonement came a day after “The League” star acknowledged the elaborate lie to The New York Times.
“As a young man, I made a mistake that I deeply regret and for which apologies may still not be enough,” Rannazzisi wrote Wednesday in a series of tweets. “After I moved with my wife to Los Angeles from New York City in 2001 shortly after 9/11, I told people that I was in one of the World Trade Center towers on 9/11. It wasn’t true. I was in Manhattan but working in a building in midtown and I was not at the Trade Center on that day.”
For years Rannazzisi has told the fictional story about working for Merrill Lynch on the 54th floor of the south tower and how he narrowly escaped before the second plane hit. He has said the brush with death inspired him to become an actor.
On Tuesday, Rannazzisi admitted to the Times it was not true.
“I don’t know why I said this. This was inexcusable,” he tweeted. “I am truly, truly sorry. For many years, more than anything, I have wished that, with silence, I could somehow erase a story told by an immature young man. It only made me more ashamed. How could I tell my children to be honest when I hadn’t come clean about this? it [sic] is to the victims of 9/11 and to the people that love them — and the people that love me — that I ask for forgiveness.
“It was profoundly disrespectful to those who perished and those who lost loved ones,” he added. “The stupidity and guilt I have felt for many years has not abated. It was an early taste of having a public persona, and I made a terrible mistake.”
Many people responded to the statement and the story on Twitter.
While TV personality Piers Morgan attached a link to a story and simply wrote “moron,” others were more forgiving. SNL actor Pete Davidson tweeted, “It’s ok @SteveRannazzisi people make mistakes.”
