Paul Bissonnette of the Phoenix Coyotes is debunking an Internet rumor that he is gay, telling a Canadian gossip site, “I’m 100 percent straight… I enjoy banging broads haha!” The site had posted an e-mail from an anonymous source saying Bissonnette made the gay claim at a party in Las Vegas as a way to get close to women.

The whole thing started when Zack Taylor, the gossip site, posted pictures of a season-ending party held by Coyote players at a Las Vegas hotel. Among those shown was Bissonnette, wearing a skimpy black swimsuit. The site then got this anonymous e-mail:

Paul Bissonnette of the Phoenix Coyotes is debunking an Internet rumor that he is gay, telling a Canadian gossip site, “I’m 100 percent straight… I enjoy banging broads haha!” The site had posted an e-mail from an anonymous source saying Bissonnette made the gay claim at a party in Las Vegas as a way to get close to women.

The whole thing started when Zack Taylor, the gossip site, posted pictures of a season-ending party held by Coyote players at a Las Vegas hotel. Among those shown was Bissonnette, wearing a skimpy black swimsuit. The site then got this anonymous e-mail:

"Paul is such a great guy. He was all over my friends and I, but kept telling us he's gay and not to worry… He was a drunk mess!"

The site ran the following pictures:

This started a round of "OMG, we have a gay NHL player" posts on various websites, but Bissonnette squashed that by telling Zach Taylor:

"I am 100 percent straight. I don't know what girls told you that. They are just trying to start a story because they are probably bitter over us kicking them out of our booth at XS Nightclub. As for the photo with that guy back in 2007 – He's the ex-boyfriend of a girl I dated from Vancouver. We thought it would be funny to take a photo together. I'm not an insecure guy. I'm 100 percent straight… I enjoy banging broads haha!"

The photo of a guy from 2007 he refers to is this picture that someone claimed was Bissonnette and his boyfriend. Bissonnette, 25, is known as the enforcer for the Coyote, meaning he gets in a lot of fights. If he did claim he was gay to get close to a lot of women, maybe that's the new angle for straight guys. If so, it's a sign of progress since generally the last thing any jock wants to be thought of is gay. And kudos to Bissonnette for not acting like being called gay was some vile slur.

Bissonnette certainly does like wearing black and he has the body to pull it off:

Don't forget to share: