TSN has apologized for a second time after airing an “inappropriate” tweet during their trade deadline show Monday.

The second apology came as lawyers for Leafs’ captain Dion Phaneuf, his wife Elisha Cuthbert and Leafs winger Joffrey Lupul threatened to launch a lawsuit if TSN didn’t issue an apology and make financial amends.

Lawyers for Gall Legge Grant and Munroe LLP released a statement on behalf of their clients Tuesday afternoon. The statement also named the author of the tweet Anthony Adragna.

"On behalf of our clients Dion Phaneuf, his wife Elisha Cuthbert and Joffrey Lupul, we have sent a letter to TSN demanding that TSN issue a formal apology and pay a significant amount of damages to each of our clients for broadcasting a false and defamatory tweet during their trade deadline show yesterday,” the statement said. “We are sending a similar letter to the author of the tweet, Mr. Anthony Adragna.

"It is bad enough that there are people who spend their time using social media to publish such false and malicious stories, but it is made much worse when a reputable media outlet like TSN gives broad circulation and credibility to these false stories by republishing them as TSN did,” the statement continued to say.

The tweet, which aired on a Twitter crawl on TSN on Monday, drew sharp criticism from Lupul.

“TSN just a poor man’s TMZ. Embarassing,” he tweeted.

Today, Lupul took another dig, tweeting “Get familiar with #nocomment.”

TSN apologized on Twitter Monday before issuing a statement Tuesday afternoon as the letter from the lawyer was made public. The station also apologized on air.

“Yesterday when TSN was reporting on the NHL trade deadline it displayed a scrolling ticker of tweets from the public,” it said.

“In spite of TSN's protocols to prevent unfounded and inappropriate tweets from making it to air, a false, and inappropriate tweet was allowed to run. There was no basis for the false allegation made in this tweet,” it continued to say.

“TSN unreservedly apologizes to Joffrey Lupul, Dion Phaneuf and Elisha Cuthbert and regrets any embarrassment this unfortunate incident has caused to them.”

Speaking with CP24 Tuesday night, Peter Gall, lawyer for Cuthbert, Lupul and Phaneuf, called the apology “a wonderful first step.”

“From my perspective, I think it does the job,” he said. “I’ll talk to Dion and Joffrey and Elisha either later on tonight or tomorrow morning. We’re going to still be talking to TSN about what more should or could be done to address the embarrassment and harm to my clients.”

The author of the tweet has not yet been located, Gall said.

“We’ve got his name, we’ll find him,” he said. “And he’s going to have to take appropriate steps to make amends too.

“This has reached the point where my clients need to take steps against him so he appreciates that this isn’t a joke and there are legal consequences.”

The Leafs have declined to comment on the issue.

Bell Media Inc. is the parent company of TSN and CP24.