Injured NBA Star Apologizes for Nude Pix
Portland Trailblazers center Greg Oden told fans and teammates that he never meant for naked photos of himself to be splayed across the Internet. Instead, he said, they were to be seen only by his “lady friend.”
First, I would like to apologize to everybody, Portland, fans, the organization," the seven-footer told reporters. "It was very embarrassing. It was something that happened over a year and a half ago. It was taken and sent over a year and a half ago. I'm very sorry and I'm definitely embarrassed for my family and everybody around me.
Oden, who is out for the season with a knee injury, said he doesn’t know how the photos got online. "My heart dropped," said Oden, who was the first pick in the NBA Draft in 2007. "I got a phone call like around 6 a.m. this morning, and I usually have pictures of me all over the Internet, even when they're not true. So when I actually got up and saw this one, it was very, very embarrassing and hurtful.
It was definitely my fault," he said. "I definitely shouldn't put myself out there like that. And I have to learn from that and be careful knowing the type of status that I do have. I definitely have to be careful and move on.
I really just want to move on from it. I'll definitely try as hard as possible to get them off the Internet. But to go that far, I don't really think there's a need to. Let's just put it behind us.