VANCOUVER — Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder Lee Nguyen apologized Monday for using a homophobic slur in what was meant to be a humourous tweet to teammate Brad Knighton.

Nguyen called Knighton a “fagggggggg” on Twitter and followed that up with a tweet that said he was only joking.

“haha jk jk guyssss,” he tweeted. “#butthurt for sure. BFF for life.”

Many Twitter followers were outraged by the remarks — as were Whitecaps officials — and he quickly deleted the messages and offered a more sincere apology.

“Sorry guys if I offended anybody,” he tweeted. “It really wasn’t meant in that way. Apologies to everyone who took offense. #oneLove”

Nguyen sent an apology to the Gay 4 Soccer group, which promotes a more enlightened attitude within the game, and offered up his services if he could do anything to help in their cause.

The organization responded to the offer in a positive manner.

“We hope we can work with him and the Caps to make this a learning experience for Lee and hopefully many others,” Gay 4 Soccer said on its website.

Whitecaps president Bob Lenarduzzi said Nguyen’s remarks were “completely inappropriate.”

“He understood that right away and deleted the tweet before we even contacted him about it,” he said. “It’s something we do not condone and he was very apologetic.”

Lenarduzzi said Nguyen, 25, won’t be formally disciplined by the club but players will be reminded about using social media in the correct manner.

“I’ve been in the game a long time and when there’s a pattern, then you have a problem,” he said. “It’s inappropriate and it’s wrong and we were not happy with it but we think it’s a one-off. It stops at that and we move on.”

Lenarduzzi said the team doesn’t want to restrict the players’ use of Twitter because it can give fans a unique insight into what they’re thinking and doing.

“It makes us unique in that people can get information directly from the players,” he said. “At the same time, it’s somewhat dangerous when you look at something like this. But we’ve chatted to them about being responsible and always understanding that they’re representing the club.”

Vancouver Sun

bconstantineau@vancouversun.com