05/26/2021
There’s a long history of people in sports media saying something that gets a strong negative response, then offering a “sorryifyouwereoffended” half-apology, and sometimes even blaming outside factors such as blood-sugar levels. By contrast, the apology CBC/Sportsnet hockey coverage host Ron MacLean offered Wednesday stands out. In a statement on Twitter, MacLean (seen above on air in November 2019) explained his reasoning for the “You have a photo of a guy with his tarp [shirt] off, you’re definitely positive for something” comment he made to analyst Kevin Bieksa (which was about a photo behind Bieksa that had a shirtless man and some rum); some interpreted that comment as a homophobic reference to AIDS, but MacLean said he meant testing positive for rum. What’s really different about MacLean’s apology, though, is that while he offers his reasoning for what he said, he still apologizes, and understands why some interpreted it differently, and vows to be better with his word choices going forward. Here’s that statement: