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Thursday evening, Sunny Hostin-wannabe Elle Duncan mocked quarterback Daniel Jones’ farewell letter to the New York Giants on “SportsCenter.” She read his letter aloud in a purposely condescending tone and sneeringly joked he would soon be “Brock Purdy’s backup.”
The segment felt forced, personal, and distasteful. Giants public relations executive Pat Hanlon agreed.
“That an #ESPN personality would mock Daniel Jones’ statement today is mind boggling,” Hanlon posted on X Thursday. “Given what has happened at that company over past few years, tone deaf.”
You can watch the full segment below:
Duncan, of course, doubled down on her mockery of Jones by predictably proclaiming that she is the victim of online harassment.
“You want to call me disrespectful to Daniel Jones? Am I more disrespectful than the Giants making him a scout team safety? Am I more disrespectful than all of those same fans that are in my mentions right now who booed him mercilessly for the last six seasons?” Duncan asked rhetorically on “First Take” Friday. “I stand by everything that I said.”
Seeing Duncan mock a current athlete is quite interesting.
Over the summer, Duncan frequently accused members of the media of “disrespecting” black WNBA players by calling them out for smearing and hard-fouling Caitlin Clark. According to Elle, black women in the WNBA must be covered respectfully. Apparently, the same does not apply to white men in the NFL.
Further, Duncan began her week by proactively defending Lamar Jackson from critics for his poor performance in a crucial division loss against the Steelers on Sunday.
“The talk will center on Lamar yet again being bested by the Steelers but remember Justin Tucker left 6 pts off the board in a 2 pt gm,” she said on X after the game.
Interestingly, hardly anyone at her network did blame Jackson for the loss. He is a sacred cow.
We can’t help but notice a trend. Elle Duncan routinely derides players like Daniel Jones, Aaron Rodgers, and Baker Mayfield in her patented mean girly tone. However, she proudly serves as a praetorian guard for spoiled protected-by-the-media athletes like Lamar Jackson, Angel Reese, Chennedy Carter, and DiJonai Carrington.
Hmm. Can anyone guess why?
In fact, Duncan even argued that Aaron Rodgers is ugly on social media—at least compared to Jalen Hurts, another one of her favorites.
For as much as ESPN promotes Duncan – and she is a talented host, we’ll admit – she continues to make the case that she’s more trouble than she is worth.
A few years ago, she reportedly complained to ESPN executives that Sage Steele was “not black enough” to appear on a social justice special. She then interrupted coverage of the NCAA college basketball tournament to protest the erroneously dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” bill in Florida, which was written to stop teachers from discussing sex with children in third grade and younger.
Weird.
Duncan similarly interrupted NBA playoff coverage to protest the Supreme Court confirming that abortion rights should be determined by each state, as per the U.S. Constitution.
Last month, she put on X that she must be doing something right if white men in America are upset. Duncan even tried to win a sports debate against Stephen A. by citing the trouble black women have with C-sections.
ESPN still has a talented roster of anchors, including Laura Rutledge, Matt Barrie, Alyssa Lang, and Kevin Connors. Maybe the bosses should give them a look.
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