Toronto Maple Leafs Joffrey Lupul sits on the bench beside teammate Dion Phaneuf during a game.MARK BLINCH/Reuters
A Toronto hockey fan who offended Maple Leafs players Joffrey Lupul and Dion Phaneuf as well as Phaneuf's wife Elisha Cuthbert with a tweet has publicly apologized.
Anthony Adragna drew the ire of the Maple Leafs players — and legal threats from the trio's lawyer — when his inflammatory tweet ran on a live crawl at the bottom of the screen during TSN's NHL trade deadline show on Monday. TSN picked up the tweet because Adragna used the hashtag #tradecentre.
"On March 2, I posted an inappropriate tweet with the #tradecentre not thinking about the consequences that could occur. The tweet included rude, uncalled for, false and hurtful words about Dion Phaneuf, Joffrey Lupul and Elisha Cuthbert," said a statement posted to Adragna's Twitter account on Friday. "Although this remark was only meant to be seen by a select few, it does not excuse my decision to post this tweet. I now realize that everything I post online is not just for a select few, but in fact, the entire world to see.
"I want to tell Dion, Joffrey, and Elisha how truly sorry I am. I am also sorry for the trouble and hurt this has caused for others."
Added the statement: "I honestly hope that this apology will help make things right."
The original offending tweet and the apology emanated from the same Twitter account. Adragna deleted the first tweet on Monday.