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Evander Kane sent out this picture on his Twitter account, saying "Hey @FloydMayweather pick up your phone cause I'm callin #imdifferent @jduppal" (TWITTER.COM)

Evander Kane has come clean – but doesn’t feel the need to apologize – for a picture posted on his Twitter account showing him in Las Vegas holding two giant wads of cash and pretending to call boxer Floyd Mayweather, Jr. that has gone viral and has brought a heap of criticism on the Winnipeg Jets’ forward.

So here’s Kane to provide some context and his take on the pic, which was accompanied by the message:"Hey @FloydMayweather pick up your phone cause I'm callin#imdifferent @jduppal pic.twitter.com/UZ3GYO4K" on his Twitter account, @EKane9JETS:

"First of all, that picture was taken in November," began Kane in a telephone interview with the Free Press on Wednesday.

"If you look closely you can see I have a moustache. That’s not my regular look, that was for Movember. But I just got home to Vancouver during the day after visiting some family in Halifax with my dad. I just threw the tweet out as a joke while I was on the plane. I landed and saw everything… I guess it is what it is.

"If you watched any of the (HBO) 24/7 show (Mayweather, Jr.) did before his fight he did that a couple of times with 50 Cent and was just joking around phoning each other with some money. I just reached out to Floyd as a joke on Twitter. It really wasn’t meant for anybody else except Floyd but it just kinda blew up and took off.

"I guess some people have more of a sense of humour than others."

'It is what it is': Kane

The picture has struck a nerve with many hockey fans angry that the lockout has robbed them of NHL hockey -- and has others suggesting Kane is insensitive or doesn’t understand how it could upset those who have lost their jobs because of the labour dispute.

His reaction, when asked about the optics?

"Some of the perceptions some people have, they obviously don’t know me very well," said Kane. "I totally understand why some people maybe don’t enjoy that tweet as much as others with what’s going on. And maybe some people are more sensitive and I totally get that. But, at the same time, it’s funny to me how I throw something out there as a joke and then I get all these tweets, many of them which I don’t pay much attention to, which are racist. It’s funny to me, if that person is so much more classy or responsible than you, they wouldn’t say that. I’ve never made any comments towards anybody in a negative way.

"It is what it is. It’s not the first time and I’m sure it won’t be the last."

As for how the picture has been received by his brethren in the NHL Players’ Association, Kane said nobody from the union has contacted him or asked him to remove it from hit Twitter account.

"We’re locked out as a union," Kane said. "My tweet has nothing to do with the NHL collective bargaining agreement or the negotiation. Like I said, it was a joke and that’s all it was.

"I guarantee you if this was an NFL player or an NBA player or a celebrity like an actor would this be a story? Probably not. If that’s Roddy White (of the Falcons) in Atlanta posting that picture, does anybody care?

"But in the NHL there’s a different mindset. I’m not talking about the NHL as a whole, just how people view it. I keep saying it: it was a joke and I’m sorry it was taken out of hand by some people."

Ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPEdTait