Maple Leafs Rookie Nude Photo Scandal Breaks; Tlusty Apologizes for High-Sticking

The only way Canadian gossip blogger Zack Taylor could rip off Perez Hilton more is if he gained 300 pounds and started worshiping Amy Winehouse. That said, Taylor and his "Is This Happening?" blog are the source for the most scandalous of scandals in hockey today: Sexually provocative cell phone photos of Toronto Maple Leafs rookie Jiri Tlusty that range from homosexually inclined to full-frontal self portrait.

Will Leitch over on Deadspin wrote about Tlusty's reaction to the pictures last week, in which he denied being gay or bi-sexual; Outsports.com was critical of Taylor's gossip site for "playing the gay card" for hits. Today, the story broke wide open in the MSM after Tlusty and the Leafs issued a formal statement last night. It was front page news in The Toronto Sun, where columnist Steve Simmons had this update:

The photos have since been removed from the website after Morse threatened legal action, but they still appear online in other places. Other photos, including one of Tlusty sticking his tongue out close to a male friend, are still on the isthishappening.com website. According to a number of sources, Tlusty took numerous photos of himself, posted them on his Facebook website and actually e-mailed a full-frontal nude photo of himself to a woman he met online.

The Jiri Tlusty (NBA tattoo nickname: "T-Lusty") friendly "tongue" shot is here. Some creative searching will turn up the explicit material on sites that haven't been legally forced to take the photo down; Google at your own risk. So does this scandal make Tlusty the Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy or the Vanessa Hudgens of "High School Musical" for the NHL? And wouldn't you love some cell phone coverage of Darcy Tucker holding today's paper in one hand and T-Lusty's neck in the other? Oh, that's right: The Leafs won't allow digital video in their locker room, out of fear that an embarrassing nude shot may end up on the Web. Irony can be pretty ironic sometimes...