Joe Buck and Troy Aikman were criticized earlier in the week after a leaked video clip appeared to show them mocking a military flyover prior to Sunday’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers-Green Bay Packers game, but Buck says the footage was taken entirely out of context.
The clip, which went viral on Monday (you can see it here), showed Buck and Aikman mocking the flyover for being a waste of tax dollars. Aikman was also heard saying the flyover, which was over a nearly empty stadium, would not have happened if Joe Biden were in office. According to Buck, the two broadcasters were being completely sarcastic.
Buck spoke about the video clip on his “Daddy Issues” podcast with co-host Oliver Hudson. He said he and Aikman were mocking a member of the FOX crew who made political remarks at a dinner the night before.
“This person happens to be very far left and said, ‘Well, under Biden-Harris, you know that’s not going to happen,’ and Troy was repeating that watching the flyover,” Buck explained, as transcribed by Mollie Walker of the New York Post.
“So they clipped that as if he’s saying that and as if he’s a Harris-Biden fan. But he’s repeating something that somebody said the night before, which is unbelievable. If you know Troy at all, he was being 100 percent sarcastic. Repeating for the person in the truck to hear, like ‘Ha, ha, ha.’”
Buck said he was also poking fun at the unnamed crew member.
“And then I go into a 1950s voice, like, ‘There’s your hard-earned tax dollars at work,’ or whatever … Then run a headline that Troy Aikman and Joe Buck bash flyovers, which it had nothing to do with any of that. It was a political conversation amongst our group that somebody clipped and sold for the exact reason that we’re doing this. And it stirs people up. And words get weaponized. And then people have to weigh in. ‘Oh, well, screw those guys. They don’t like the military.’ WHAT?!”
Buck went on to explain that he is very pro-military and that both his father and grandfather were in the service. His father, Hall of Fame broadcaster Jack Buck, was awarded a Purple Heart after being shot during World War II.
The clip that was leaked was recorded during a pregame rehearsal, and Buck says it wasn’t even FOX footage. Aikman addressed the comments with a lengthy tweet this week, but Buck’s explanation answered more questions.
