Dee Devlin turns to victim blaming in public defense of fiancé Conor McGregor

Dee Devlin issued a statement on Instagram on Tuesday, November 26 defending her longtime fiancé Conor McGregor, the Irish sports star who a jury found assaulted Nikita Hand in a Dublin hotel in December 2018 last week.

"What sort of WOMAN are you!!" Devlin said in her statement via her Instagram stories on Tuesday.

She does not explicitly name Nikita Hand in her statement, though the reference is obvious.

In her statement, Devlin criticized Hand for being "out on a 3 day bender," but did not write that McGregor said in court how he was "partying away" in the lead-up to the incident. She also did not write that McGregor agreed in court that he shared a bag of cocaine with Hand and another woman while on the way to the hotel where the assault occurred.

Devlin's statement continued: "My sons will be warned women like you exist in the world."

Dee Devlin's Instagram stories posted on November 26, 2024.

Referring to CCTV footage of the night of the incident in December 2018, Devlin shockingly claims: "To me it looks like you're the one sexually assaulting in the lift. To me it looks like everyone is trying to get away from you."

Whatever Devlin believes she saw in the CCTV footage, it cannot be disputed that a jury found McGregor liable for assaulting Hand. (McGregor, who maintains his innocence, says he will appeal last week's decision.)

Devlin goes on to write that she and McGregor "dealt with these issues privately many years ago" and that they have "come out stronger than ever." 

She concluded her statement on Instagram stories saying: "They without sin cast the first stone."

Dee Devlin's Instagram stories from November 26, 2024.

Devlin also posted a photo of her and McGregor with two of their children to her Instagram grid around the same time she posted her statement to her Instagram stories on Tuesday.

"My man and I have created a beautiful life together," she captioned the post.

"I love him I trust him and I BELIEVE HIM! Our four beautiful children whose smiling faces and happy hearts are testimony to the man he is and who we are! No one is entitled to comment on our relationship- we trust one another and love one another

"Nothing or nobody will change that

"Our family stands strong!"

McGregor shared Devlin's post - which has received upwards of 110k likes as of Wednesday afternoon - to his own Instagram stories on Tuesday, adding a heart face emoji and praying hands emoji.

Dee Devlin's Instagram post on November 27, 2024.

McGregor also took to social media following the jury's decision on Friday. In since-deleted posts, he labeled Hand a "vicious liar" and said that her story in court was "nonsense."

Devlin and McGregor have been together since before McGregor became famous. The two got engaged in 2020 and now have four children together.

Devlin only attended court with McGregor one day throughout the trial, the final day. She was pictured accompanying McGregor at the High Court in Dublin on the day the jury handed down its decision on Friday, November 22.

November 22, 2024: Dee Devlin and Conor McGregor arrive at the High Court in Dublin. (RollingNews.ie)

Before arriving at their verdict, the jury was cautioned by Justice Alexander Owens: "You look for sound evidential basis and not lazy assumptions or victim blaming.”

Responding to the jury's decision, Rachel Morrogh, Chief Executive of Dublin Rape Crisis Centre (DRCC), touched upon the issue of victim blaming.

"...this case and the public commentary around it has also thrown up questions about how some of Irish society views victims of sexual violence," Morrogh said.

"It illustrates that there is still a culture of blame and judgement out there that has no place in a modern society.

"We need a greater awareness of how trauma affects people differently and accelerated action to change residual negative attitudes around sexual violence."

Morrogh added that the DRCC has "heard from people who say they have witnessed an increase in negative victim-blaming attitudes over the last 2 weeks.

"Given the epidemic of sexual violence that exists in Ireland and that over half of women will experience some form of it in their lifetime, those attitudes have been picked up by a considerable number of people directly affected by this issue."

Devlin's Instagram stories were labeled as victim blaming by X users on Tuesday.

"dee devlin denying a court ruling in favour of victim blaming a woman who went though hell at the hands of her husband is actually evil," one person posted on X, drawing more than 5.7k likes.

"Everything you're blaming this victim for YOUR MAN was doing, too," said another person whose post has received more than 2.8k likes.

"I don’t care how open you are in your relationship. At some point you need to blame your cheating husband." another said on X, the post gaining more than 2k likes.

Devlin's public defense of her fiancé was issued the same day that a number of major retailers in Ireland announced they would be pulling McGregor's products from their shelves.

Proximo Spirits, which now owns the Proper No. Twelve Irish Whiskey that McGregor launched in 2018, also announced they will no longer use the Irish UFC fighter's name or likeness in marketing the product going forward.

The action by retailers and brands follows calls for a boycott, led in part by the Rape Crisis Network of Ireland (RCNI), which emerged after the jury's decision on Friday.

Meanwhile, Reportd.ie, an Irish platform where users can anonymously report sexual assault, has gone viral with its explanation of why it's important to unfollow McGregor on social media.