Eric Bristow apologised for his comments about football's sexual abuse scandal and claimed he made them in a bid to encourage children to come forward if they are being abused.
The former darts world champion has been heavily criticised after calling footballers "wimps" on Twitter, adding: "Glad I am a dart player proper men."
Bristow, 59, admitted that his comments were deeply upsetting to abuse victims.
"It was worded wrongly. If you want me to apologise I will apologise," Bristow told Good Morning Britain.
"It was mis-worded. The whole idea was to get over to youngsters now to complain. They (the footballers) are not wimps, they have been abused from young kids.
When asked if he was sorry for calling the players "wimps", Bristow added: "Yes. Of course I am sorry for that, that wasn’t the whole idea of it. The idea was to get to the youngsters."
Bristow has been dropped as a pundit by Sky Sports and will no longer be appearing at a darts event run by Newcastle United next week.
He wrote on Twitter, in comments that were subsequently deleted: "Might be a looney but if some football coach was touching me when i was a kid as i got older i would have went back and sorted that poof out."
He added: "Dart players tough guys footballers wimps."
Bristow said his comments were made to try and encourage children to speak out about abuse.
"The whole idea of this Twitter conversation was to get young kids aware and complain when they're being abused when they're younger. There's no good doing it 30 years later, you've missed the boat," he said.
"If I stop one young lad getting abused at a young age I've done what I wanted to achieve. That was the whole idea of it.
"Every day you open the paper there's a new lot (of child abuse). There's too many of them about.
"If it's upset a few people, it's upset a few people, but if one child stops and tells someone they're getting abused that's the whole idea of it all."
A number of players have waived their right to anonymity to make allegations of abuse.
