JJ Redick issued an apology Sunday via Twitter, hours after footage emerged of the Philadelphia 76ers guard appearing to use racist terminology in a video greeting to Chinese NBA fans.
As he maintained earlier in the day, Redick said his words became jumbled while taping a recent Chinese New Year greeting for media platform Tencent, and as result a derogatory term became audible.
"Had I known it sounded anything like that, I would have been mortified and recorded the greeting again," he said. "That word is not in my vocabulary."
Brooklyn Nets guard Jeremy Lin came to Redick's defense Sunday, saying he spoke with him and that Redick has a great deal of respect for Chinese people.