Michael Cole directed a homophobic slur Saturday afternoon on his Twitter account to fellow WWE announcer Josh Mathews before deleting it a short while later.
He then wrote on Twitter, "I apologize to any and all who were offended by my tweet toward young Josh Mathews. It was obviously not meant the way it was taken.
"I was not ordered to apologize I said I am sorry because I am. Now can I get back to being a character again please?"
TMZ.com drew attention to the Twitter post and WWE's recently announced partnership with GLAAD to end bullying based on sexual orientation after John Cena directed a number of 'homophobic taunts' towards Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson on the February 28 episode of Monday Night Raw. WWE released a statement to TMZ regarding Cole's conduct.
"WWE has alerted GLAAD to the situation and spoken to Michael Cole about his post. He has removed it and apologized for using hateful language. Michael will be included in the training session being done by GLAAD. WWE takes this very seriously and is against discrimination of any kind based on sexual orientation, gender, race, religion, or other."
