National Football League

Greg Hardy apologizes for insensitive joke about 9/11

Published May. 2, 2015 2:32 p.m. ET

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Dallas Cowboys defensive end Greg Hardy is not off to a great start with his new team, and an ill-advised comment he made Friday night about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks certainly didn’t help.

After the Carolina Panthers drafted 6-foot-5 wide receiver Devin Funchess, someone on Twitter referred to Funchess and Panthers receiver Kelvin Benjamin — who is also 6-foot-5 — as the “Twin Towers.” Hardy responded with an insensitive quip.

"Didn't the twin towers get blown up lol," Hardy wrote.

A 10-year-old would probably know that wasn’t funny, and the Cowboys certainly weren’t amused. Shortly after the tweet went viral, Jerry Jones said the team will address the matter with Hardy.

“We will address that and we’ll just leave it at that,” Jones said, via ESPN.com. “We all know that we’re living in a time now that you don’t allude or use examples that socially … are just out of step or bad taste. Those are some of the kinds of things it’s good to be able to have a good line of communication with players and address and work on.”

Hardy has since apologized for the tweet.

"Ill say this I apologize 4a comment that mentioned an event where no reference 2humor is ever ok but I hope my real fans know I would never," he wrote Friday night.

Cowboys COO Stephen Jones recently said that Hardy, who is appealing a 10-game suspension that stems from a domestic violence incident, needs to realize that he is “under a microscope.” Last week, Hardy got into a verbal altercation with Cowboys defensive tackle Davon Coleman.

You can understand why Dale Hansen unloaded on the Cowboys for signing Hardy and why this Dallas politician does not approve. Hardy is incredibly talented, but he just doesn’t seem to get it.

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