PITTSBURGH _ Cubs starting pitcher Jon Lester clarified his thoughts on major-league players whose old racist and homophobic tweets have recently surfaced.
Some interpreted Lester's tweet advising players to scrub their accounts as portraying the offending players as victims instead of focusing on their hateful rhetoric.
Lester later tweeted he should've "worded it differently," which he reiterated Tuesday night after the Cubs' 5-4 loss to the Pirates at PNC Park.
"I think looking back on it and the response to the first (tweet), it could've been worded just a hair differently," he said. "In no way, shape or form did I want to make those guys out to be a victim of anything.
"I think by the end of the day we kind of ironed through some topics and talked about some things (in the Twitter conversation), and all in all at the end of the day I think it was a positive in the right direction.
"I think our game is in a great spot, but when you have things like this the fans obviously don't take to kindly to it, along with anybody who is not even a fan. We'll do our job here to make our clubhouse (inclusive) and make everybody feel comfortable and wanted and appreciated.
"And hopefully that's the same message that we can portray across MLB. And the fans that we did lose with some of this stuff, maybe we can gain back some of this trust with some good, solid (messages) along the way."
