Giants public relations czar Pat Hanlon ripped ESPN and host Elle Duncan for being “tone deaf” after she mocked Daniel Jones’ farewell letter that he read from a piece of paper Thursday.
Duncan mocked Jones on Thursday night in her “Taking the Elle” segment with plenty of remarks and facial contortions that could be considered condescending.
She doubled down on her comments Friday on “First Take” before the Giants formally released Jones.
“That an #ESPN personality would mock Daniel Jones’ statement today is mind boggling,” Hanlon tweeted Thursday, seemingly referring to ESPN’s mass layoffs in recent years.
“Given what has happened at that company over past few years, tone deaf.”
The Giants finally pulled the cord on the Daniel Jones era this week, demoting him to to fourth-string quarterback before granting him his release Friday.
Jones thanked the franchise Thursday while reading a prepared statement in his first public comments since the benching.
“There have been some great times, but, of course, we all wish there had been more of those,” said Jones, who even served as a scout-team safety in practice on Thursday.
“I take full responsibility for my part in not bringing more wins. No one wanted to win those games worse than me. I gave everything I had.”
Duncan then used her segment Thursday to mock Jones, with Jones using a prepared statement seemingly not sitting well with the ESPN personality.
“We normally reserve ‘Taking the Elle’ for Fridays but Giants quarterback Daniel Jones just did something so inexplicable that we made an exception,” Duncan said while being very demonstrative.
“After being benched this week, Jones took to the podium to say goodbye to the franchise and fans, but with, like, seven games left in the season.”
While Duncan said franchise and fans, she did so in a voice that mirrored how one may sound if speaking while crying.
During her remarks on the games remaining, she flashed a “yuck” kind of look and muttered a quick word that sounded like “ugh.”
A clip of Jones reading his statement then played in the background for a second before she cut it off.
“I’m sorry, you have to write this down? Didn’t you go to Duke?” Duncan said before displaying a “yikes” look.
“Do you guys think he had this saved in his notes since, like, 2020?” Duncan said.
Duncan then read from a paper in an imitation of Jones.
“In all seriousness, DJ, I could have saved you like 90 seconds. A re-write: ‘Sorry you paid me $180 million for one playoff win and I look forward to reviving my career as Brock Purdy’s backup.’ The end.”
The bit ended with Duncan bursting out in laughter.
Duncan’s comedy routine did not sit well with some, particularly Hanlon.
She defender her views, though, yet again in what can be viewed as a condescending and mocking tone.
“I cannot look at my mentions right now, they are big mad at me, calling me all kinds of names, calling me out my name, calling me names you would never say Pastor Ryan Clark on a Sunday,” Duncan said Friday morning. “Here’s the deal: You can be mad at all you want, I thought it was a little bit silly he was doing a farewell speech with seven games left in the season, I also thought it was silly that he needed to write down some boiler plate stuff like, ‘Thank you to the fans.’
“But you want to call me disrespectful to Daniel Jones? I’m more disrespectful than the Giants making him a scout-team safety? Am I more disrespectful than all those same fans that are in my mentions right now who booed him mercilessly for the last six seasons? No. I’m not the one who threw 47 interceptions. I’m not the one who overpaid someone who we knew was probably not going to be the guy to carry your franchise to glory the way that you thought.
“But if you want to make me your scapegoat, you want to be pissed at me, go for it. I stand by everything that I said.”