Joe Buck Calls out Scott Van Pelt for On-Air Snub

Scott Van Pelt and Joe Buck had an interesting interaction following ESPN’s Monday Night Football broadcast this week. Van Pelt was interviewing Buck and his Monday Night Football partner Troy Aikman after the Los Angeles Chargers defeated the Indianapolis Colts 20-3. Van Pelt asked Buck the first question and then asked Aikman several questions about the Chargers’ offense. He then was going to wrap up the interview before Buck chimed in. 

“That’s it? I get one question? That’s all?” Buck said, per the Daily Beast. Van Pelt said yes because he wanted to talk to Aikman more. “Yeah, I know, but I have to awkwardly stand here while he answers questions,” Buck replied. That’s when Aikman attempted to diffuse the situation by pushing Buck aside while taking up the screen. Van Pelt then asked Buck several questions about the weather in Indianapolis and Christmas, but the two continued to take jabs at each other. 

“You got that private jet money, buddy; you’ll be home by eleven local,” Van Pelt told Buck. This led to Buck saying to don’t tell his wife that and he’s going to “milk this.” Van Pelt then ended the interview by saying, “This is really getting awkward and I’m gonna segue out of it. Boys, Happy New Year!” Buck then took a shot at Van Pelt by saying it’s his show and he thought that Van Pelt wanted ratings.

Fans on social media had their thoughts about the exchange. One person wrote: “If you watched last week, after their TNF analysis, Buck jabbed at SVP about a major win/upset of their old alma maters in CFB it sounded like. Literally snuck it in as time was pretty much done. SVP wasn’t happy with the reminder. Snubbing him questions today was payback.”

“Not a huge Joe Buck fan, but def don’t hate him like ppl seem to,” another Twitter user said. “That being said, that was 100% intentional by SVP. A pro like him doesn’t talk to 1 guest for 5 min when there is more than 1 on at the same time. It would piss any broadcaster off, they just wouldn’t say it on air.” Buck signed with ESPN earlier this year after working for Fox Sports for nearly 30 years. Van Pelt joined ESPN in 2001 and became the host of the midnight edition of SportsCenter in 2015.