The start of a new school year has brought with it the start of a new controversy for Joe Fontana.

London’s mayor allegedly used some colourful language Monday night while speaking on stage to more than 6,000 students at Western University during an orientation week event.

“I know the president of your school wants you to study hard, but that’s all bulls–t. You should just have fun.”

That’s what Jasper Lee, a first-year student at Western University heard. Dozens of other students repeated variations of the same quote on Twitter almost immediately after the Mayor had finished speaking.

“I think this mayor is a really cool guy,” said Lee. “Obviously, to become mayor, he didn’t just party and have fun. Clearly, he worked hard to get to that position. Just the fact he would tell us to take it easy for the first week, and have lots of fun – I think that’s a really sick (cool) thing he did.”

In an interview with AM 980, Fontana brushed off any controversy.

“It was a light-hearted moment … in the spirit of that great event,” Fontana said. “It might not have been the most appropriate phrase to use, but I was trying to make a point and was trying to have some fun.”

Officials at Western would not address the nature of Fontana’s comments, but did say the mayor’s speech was well-received by students in attendance.