Lions quarterback Jon Kitna said his choice to dress up at a Halloween party like assistant coach Joe Cullen was intended as a good-natured send up and part of the ribbing that is common in NFL locker rooms.

Kitna said he merely was trying to win a costume contest at charity party in Plymouth thrown by receiver Mike Furrey on Monday night. Kitna came dressed in a naked costume as Cullen, who was arrested and charged in the summer of 2006 with obscene conduct and drunken driving in separate incidents in Dearborn.

“People who understand an NFL locker room understand that when guys do things we joke with each other a lot,” Kitna said. “Now, would I have done it last year? No. I think it would have been too close to when the situation happened.

“But Joe is somebody that I talk to and I know how far he’s come and the changes that he’s made and the things that he’s done in his life. It was something actually I was hoping to win the contest and win the four-wheel vehicle, and I was going to give it to Joe, to be honest with you. But that didn’t happen.”

• Kitna says Cullen costume was just good-natured ribbing