Celebrity Army vet admits to lying about his combat record

Retired Army Green Beret and MMA fighter Tim Kennedy released an apology message following allegations of “stolen valor.”

Kennedy specifically apologized to recipients of the Bronze Star medal, “and to their families and brothers-in-arms,” after he falsely claimed that he had been awarded the medal and other valor awards, in a post to X. The retired Special Forces soldier said he takes “full and unequivocal responsibility” for what he called a “serious mistake.”

The former soldier and mixed martial artist said he “should have known better” but “wasn’t prepared for the scrutiny of pressure” of entering “the public eye” as a younger man. He also thanked “those who have held [him] accountable.”

OutKick’s David Hookstead, who investigated Kennedy before his apology, described a response from Special Operations Command to a media inquiry about several of Kennedy’s claims in a July 1 video. Specifically, Hookstead asked about Kennedy’s claim that he had “killed kids and women during war” in a 2016 Instagram post. And his claim made on the American Warrior Society Show in 2017, that he earned a “bronze star with a V,” for “shooting” a “bad guy.”

The Public Affairs Officer of Army Special Operations Command responded that Kennedy’s statements about his service were “not endorsed nor representative of the U.S. Army’s Special Operations Command,” according to Hookstead.

With Tim Kennedy back in the news getting crushed for more insane and almost always fake stories, please understand that most veterans aren’t like him.

There are incredible men who you will never hear about who did exceptional things for this country.

They deserve respect.

— David Hookstead (@dhookstead) July 7, 2025

Hookstead, who formerly served as the Daily Caller’s sports and entertainment editor, later publicized Kennedy’s apology, celebrating it as a victory. However, Hookstead claims that questions remain regarding Kennedy’s statements about “women and children being unalived,” or his “stories about shooting people perhaps not actively engaged in fighting, using a thermal image system and a sniper rifle.”

Kennedy said in his post that his “apology is not the end, it’s the beginning,” and that “from now on, [his] words will be guided by truth, humility, and respect.”

Kennedy is the author of the book “Scars and Stripes” and has been featured on numerous shows and podcasts, sharing stories of his time as a special forces operator and a UFC fighter.