Victor Cruz apologizes for controversial Zimmerman tweet

Chris Strauss | USA TODAY Sports

Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Roddy White wasn't the only NFL receiver to quickly express his outrage over the George Zimmerman acquittal on Twitter Saturday night.

New York Giants star Victor Cruz tweeted immediately after the verdict that "Zimmerman doesn't last a year before the hood catches up with him," before later deleting it and explaining why in a series of tweets on Sunday afternoon.

Cruz continued to explain himself on The Dan Patrick Show Monday.

"In the moment, when it happened, I'm not going to lie, I was a little angry," Cruz told the radio host. "If that was your son or your kid that happened to, you want some type of justice to be served for what happened. The verdict comes and it's the opposite of what you thought it would be. I put out the tweet as a reaction to what I was seeing on Twitter and what my friends and family were writing on Twitter."

"When I put the tweet out there, once I put it out I was like 'That's the wrong thing to say.' There's kids that follow me and I don't want them to think that I'm trying to incite violence on anyone. Those aren't my intentions. I'm not that type of guy. Where I come from, I heard violence outside my window each and every day. I don't want to be someone to promote that even more so."

Cruz's explanation and apology didn't seem to stop some of the vitriolic responses he was still receiving on social media Monday morning.

Cruz admitted during his interview with Patrick that he wouldn't be opposed to having someone from his representation team review any potentially controversial tweets in the future before he posts.