Fired Blue Jays Analyst Gregg Zaun ‘Blindsided’ by Sexual Harassment Allegations

Fired Blue Jays Analyst Gregg Zaun has apologized in a lengthy post to Twitter after his employer released him over allegations that he sexually harassed women in the workplace.

According to reports, “multiple” women working at Sportsnet complained of his behavior since he joined “Blue Jays Central” in 2011. The one-time Blue Jays catcher who spent 16 seasons behind the plate was fired almost immediately after the allegations were made, Sporting News reports.

In a long note posted to Twitter, Zaun admitted he was “blindsided and emotionally gutted by the allegations and will continue to be regretful” over his behavior:

Unlike allegations recently leveled against other public people in the news, no one claimed that Zaun physically abused any of the victims who came forward to warn about his behavior. All the allegations were based on his untoward or sexist comments, not any physical actions.

For his part, Zaun felt he was just being funny and didn’t realize how badly his comments were taken by female employees of Rogers Communication.

With his posting, Zaun issued an “absolute apology.”

“I have done a lot of soul searching over the last few days and know that my ignorance of the harm caused by my language does not excuse it — for which I accept responsibility,” he wrote. “While I am well recognized for my unfiltered criticism of others within the sports world, which has made many critics and enemies — in ignorance I allowed a similar attitude to influence all aspects of my lifestyle, causing distress for female colleagues.”

“My remorse in the activities drawn to my attention by Rogers this week affecting unnamed individuals, is that it was never raised before and I naively believed that my language and behavior were not considered offensive,” Zaun said in his Twitter post. “I regret my blindness to the impact of my actions that I would have corrected at the time, rather than allowing the harm felt to continue to fester.”

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.