The New York Giants cut veteran cornerback Janoris Jenkins on Friday morning, two days after he called a Twitter user who challenged him a "retard."

"This was an organizational decision," Giants coach Pat Shurmur said in a statement. "From ownership to management to our football operations, we felt it was in the best interests of the franchise and the player. Obviously, what happened this week, and the refusal to acknowledge the inappropriate and offensive language, was the determining factor."

Jenkins apologized for the slur but didn't sound contrite Thursday while speaking with reporters, claiming that "retard" was "just something we use in the 'hood back at home."

"Where I'm from, we use all kind of words for slang. If it offends anybody, I'm sorry," Jenkins added (via ESPN). "It's a culture that I grew up in where I'm from, you know what I'm saying? We use all kinds of words for all kinds of slang. If you don't know, it's a 'hood thing. Whatever. I'm not calling nobody no name or pick at nobody. It's just something we use in the hood back at home."

After he was released, he wrote on Twitter that it was the "best news ever."

The 2-11 Giants are in last place in the NFC East, with more wins than just one other team, the 1-12 Cincinnati Bengals.

Jenkins was sitting out a Giants practice Wednesday with an ankle injury he suffered in Monday night's loss to the Eagles when he posted a pair of tweets touting his performance in recent weeks. That led to another Twitter user asking him, "How many of those stats contributed to any wins?" while appending the words "none" and "irrelevant."

"I only can do my job, retard," Jenkins, 31, replied.

Nearly six hours later, Jenkins posted another tweet, which said, "My apology for the word I used earlier, really didn't mean no 'HARM." He referred to his nickname, "Jackrabbit," writing in a hashtag, "#RabbitLoveEverybody."

Earlier this month, Shurmur said he was "going to have a conversation" with Jenkins about the cornerback's criticism of the way he was being deployed by the Giants. Following a 31-13 loss to the Packers in Week 13, in which Green Bay wide receivers Davante Adams and Allen Lazard accounted for three touchdowns against other New York defensive backs, Jenkins complained (via NJ.com): "I'm the only one in the league that don't travel no more. I don't understand why. But I was traveling the other years. I don't understand.

"I play on the left side of the field all game. I get two passes a game. Come on, bro. Like, common sense. Everybody in the league who's got a top corner, they travel. Rabbit don't travel no more. Come on."

Shurmur responded then by calling Jenkins "a spirited guy" who "wants to have an impact on the game," but the coach added that "obviously, anything that we do, we should do behind the scenes."

On Wednesday, Jenkins appeared to be picking up his Twitter feed from where he left off on Dec. 2, when he addressed a fan who tweeted at him that "maybe we should ask Mike Evans if you should travel." That was a reference to a Week 3 loss to the Buccaneers in which Jenkins was assigned to shadow the Tampa Bay wide receiver, only to get torched by Evans for three touchdowns.

"1 bad game out of 16," Jenkins tweeted then, and he began Wednesday's online activity by declaring, apparently of himself, "We still haven't given up a TD since week three."

The 2016 Pro Bowler, now in his fourth season with the Giants after spending his first four with the St. Louis Rams, followed that with some of his statistics from this season, including 14 passes defensed, four interceptions and 50 tackles. "Talk about that," he asserted, which drew the criticism of his "irrelevant" numbers.

Jenkins has made more than $50 million from the five-year, $62 million contract he signed in 2016.

Of the slur he then tweeted at the fan, Jenkins said Thursday: "I regret it. But at the end of the day, it's my slang. So if you take it how you're going to take it, it's on you. I don't mean to offend nobody.

"My dad always told me, 'Speak freely and own up to what you say.' So I always speak freely as a man, and I speak how I want to speak."