Morgan Rielly, one of the few positive on-ice stories in a disastrous year for the Toronto Maple Leafs, found himself in the middle of controversy Friday, after he made insensitive comments during an interview earlier in the day.
The comment, which drew the ire of many, was made to Jonas Siegel of TSN 1050.
Morgan Rielly today said positive approach, strong work ethic during tough time was key. "You're not here to be a girl about it."
— Jonas Siegel (@jonassiegel) February 20, 2015
The 20-year-old Rielly later spoke to TSN’s Mark Masters, apologizing to people he may have hurt by what he said. A video of the interview was posted as TSN.ca.
“It’s a phrase that has to be taken out of today’s society. I know I can’t be using that with the media. It was just careless by me,” Rielly told TSN.
“I didn’t mean it the way it was taken at all and I’m sorry for the way that it came across.”
Just spoke to Morgan Rielly; he feels terrible about word choice in comments about team morale earlier ("Not here to be a girl about it")
— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) February 20, 2015