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Watch TSN's on-air apology to Joffrey Lupul, Dion Phaneuf, Elisha Cuthbert for adultery joke (Video)

Joffrey Lupul and Dion Phaneuf of the Toronto Maple Leafs, and Phaneuf's wife actress Elisha Cuthbert, have threatened legal action against TSN after the network published a tweet on-air during its Monday NHL trade deadline coverage that joked about an affair between Lupul and Cuthbert.

The network issued an on-air apology to them on Tuesday night during SportsCentre and the Leafs' game at the Florida Panthers. Delivered by lead anchor James Duthie, who hosted the TradeCentre broadcast, it read:

"Yesterday when TSN was reporting on the NHL trade deadline it displayed a scrolling ticker of tweets from the public.

"In spite of TSN's protocols to prevent unfounded and inappropriate tweets from making it to air, a false, and inappropriate tweet was allowed to run.

"There was no basis for the false allegation made in this tweet.

"TSN unreservedly apologizes to Joffrey Lupul, Dion Phaneuf and Elisha Cuthbert and regrets any embarrassment this unfortunate incident has caused to them."

A law firm representing the players and Cuthbert demanded from TSN "a formal apology and pay a significant amount of damages to each of our clients for broadcasting a false and defamatory tweet during their trade deadline show." It sent a similar demand to Anthony Adragna, the Toronto Maple Leafs fan who wrote the offending tweet.

On Monday, he responded to talk about a lawsuit thusly:

Yeah, about that...

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