Harrison Apologizes For Magazine Comments

(CBS) Pittsburgh linebacker James Harrison apologized Thursday for remarks he made about NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and some of his teammates in an interview with Men's Journal.

Harrison posted a statement on Facebook saying that his comments about Ben Roethlisberger and Rashard Mendenhall were taken of context.

"I did make comments about my teammates when I was talking about the emotional Super Bowl loss, but the handful of words that were used and heavily publicized yesterday were pulled out of a long conversation and the context was lost," Harrison said in the statement. "Obviously, I would never say that it was all Ben's or Rashard's fault that we lost the Super Bowl. That would be ridiculous. Both Ben and Rashard are great players and great teammates. Clearly the entire team bears responsibility for the loss, me included. It was a team effort and a team loss. My teammates know me well, and hopefully understand the things I said were not meant to accuse them of the loss. We all have discussed several things that went wrong in the Super Bowl since that day. What I do apologize for and take full responsibility for is for speaking in such a candid manner to someone outside the team."

As for using a gay slur in reference to Goodell?

"I also need to make clear that the comment about Roger Goodell was not intended to be derogatory against gay people in any way," he said. "It was careless use of a slang word and I apologize to all who were offended by the remark. I am not a homophobic bigot, and I would never advocate intolerance of gay people."

In response to him appearing in the magazine with guns, he went on to say that he collects guns as a hobby and is an "advocate of the responsible use of firearms."

In:
• Pittsburgh Steelers
• Rashard Mendenhall
• Roger Goodell
• Ben Roethlisberger