New York Giants co-owner John Mara saw Saquon Barkley’s latest commercial poking fun at him and he took one specific issue with it.
Just ahead of the team’s Week 18 game against the Philadelphia Eagles, Unisom released their latest ad featuring Barkley in which the superstar running back trolls Mara over a comment he made during “Hard Knocks: Offseason with the New York Giants.”
“I’ll have a tough time sleeping if Saquon goes to Philadelphia,” Mara said in episode 3.
Playing off that, Barkley sang Mara a lullaby without actually mentioning him by name.
Alright this might push John Mara over the top pic.twitter.com/GFbqtfCXT2
— Talkin’ Giants (@TalkinGiants) January 2, 2025
“I heard some of you were having trouble sleeping, so I wrote you a lullaby,” Barkley said. “Rockabye baby awake in your bed as the thought of 2,000 swirls in your head. It sure is tough to lose sleep over football; not for me, though. Goodnight to you all.”
“Still can’t sleep? Try counting sheep,” Barkley says as an image of him as a lamb leaps over a fence.
During an impromptu press conference on Monday, Mara admitted he saw the commercial and subsequently called Barkley with a gripe.
However, it may not be what you expected.
John Mara called Saquon Barkley and jokingly said he was "very upset" with the commercial that Barkley did, as he wanted to be featured:
"There is an acting gene in our family, it's not just my nieces" pic.twitter.com/6V9JgmSjkh
— Giants Videos (@SNYGiants) January 6, 2025
“I called him before the game and told him I was very upset with him based on our relationship of so many year,” Mara revealed. “He said, ‘What do you mean?’ I said, ‘The least you could have done is ask me to be in the commercial with you.’
“I said, ‘I could have been tossing and turning and it would have been a great (thing).’ I said, ‘There is an acting gene in our family. It’s not just my nieces.'”
Mara is, of course, the uncle of actresses Kate Mara and Rooney Mara, who have hundreds of television and movie credits between them.
It was a nice lighthearted moment on what was an otherwise gloomy and tension-filled day in East Rutherford.
