Tennis player Tennys Sandgren has
apologized for homophobic tweets he sent out in 2012.
“Stumbled into a gay club last night
… my eyes are still bleeding,” Sandgren tweeted in 2012.
When asked how he ended up in a gay
club, Sandgren responded, “What can I say the trannies were calling
to me.”
The 26-year-old Sandgren, a
quarterfinalist at the Australian Open, offered a backhanded apology
on Thursday.
“In regards to the gay club tweet
from 2012, I used poor and harsh words to describe a bad experience,
and is not indicative of how I feel about the people in that
community. To everyone I offended with that, pls accept my apology,”
he messaged.
Other tweets showed the tennis player
posted links to InfoWars, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones' media site,
and on other far-right topics, such as Pizzagate, the false story
made viral by Jones and other right-wing commentators that former
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ran a child prostitution ring from
the basement of a pizza parlor in the District of Columbia.
Serena Williams tweeted that “there
is a entire group of people that deserves an apology” from
Sandgren.
Sandgren, who has since deleted his
social media accounts, appeared to blame the press for the backlash
he has received.
“To write an edgy story, to create
sensationalist coverage, there are a few lengths you wouldn't go to
mark me as the man you desperately want me to be,” he said during a
recent press conference. “I’m more than happy to talk with
people and let people know how I feel about things. I’ve had to
put the social media aside for now, I’ll take a look at it and I’ll
take the criticism and I’ll take the good with the bad and keep
learning and growing as a person and try to move forward.”