New Jersey Devil Cam Janssen Is Sorry for Threatening Gay Players

Cam Janssen

The New Jersey Devils' Cam Janssen is apologizing for joking during an Internet radio show that if he discovered a player was gay, he'd get "his ass kicked."

Jannsen said during an interview on "The Thom and Jeff Show" that "if he's suckin' cock, he's gettin' his ass kicked."

In an apology issued quickly, Jannsen expressed support for the You Can Play project, which combats homophobia in hockey and all sports. It was founded by Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke, whose son Brian was an openly gay manager for an NCAA hockey team before he died in a car accident and who was a voice for acceptance in a sport where homophobic comments were part of the everyday.

"I used some poor judgment, which I now regret," Jannsen said in a statement. "I would like to apologize for my poor choice of language. The tone of the interview was very casual and off-color, and I lost focus on what is and is not acceptable and professional. I am deeply sorry to anyone who was offended by my language. Moving forward, I hope to eliminate that type of language from my vocabulary. I would also like to take this chance to express my support for the work the You Can Play project is doing, and for the gay community in general."

Here's a portion of a transcript of the interview posted by SB Nation, which has also posted the video:

Janssen: "There's some shit-talkin' that goes down that pisses some people off. There's a lot of personal shit, man, like, guys know personal shit. ... You wanna get in people's heads to get them off their fuckin' game and don't get me wrong, you don't wanna go too deep with shit because we all have our issues here. Let's be honest."

Host: "But if the guy was suckin' cock four weeks ago, you're gonna let him know about it?"

Janssen: "Oh, if he's suckin' cock, he's gettin' his ass kicked." [laughter]