Toronto Maple Leafs rookie centre 19-year-old Jiri Tlusty has issued a statement expressing regret that nude photos of him have been circulating on the Internet.
The photographs were apparently taken last season while Tlusty was playing for the Ontario Hockey League's Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.
"I used poor judgment in this instance last season and I have learned a valuable lesson. It will not happen again and I have no further comment," Tlusty said in a statement released Tuesday night.
The nude photos were taken by the Czech native, Tlusty's lawyer Jerome R. Morse said.
"Mr. Tlusty took these photographs of himself with his camera phone last year," Morse wrote in an email to Zack Taylor of isthishappening.com -- the Canadian gossip website that originally posted the photos last week.
"As such, Mr. Tlusty is the owner of these photographs and any unauthorized publication of these photographs is a violation of his copyright."
The nude photos have since been removed from the site.
Shortly after the photos made their way onto the site, an image of Tlusty touching tongues with another male was posted.
In an interview with isthishappening.com, Tlusty addressed questions about his sexuality last week, saying, "I am not gay or bi nothing (sic)."
"I don't know nothing about the homosexual," he said.
Tlusty said the photos were taken during a birthday celebration with friends in his hometown of Slany, Czech Republic.
Leafs general manager John Ferguson also issued a statement Tuesday in support of Tlusty.
"Photographs were posted recently on the Internet without Jiri's knowledge or consent. He made a na�ve mistake as a teenager," Ferguson said.
"It's a lesson in how something private came easily become very public in the Internet age. Hopefully it's a lesson that other people will learn from as well."
