Scott Van Pelt apologizes for ‘incomplete reaction’ to Kyren Lacy

Scott Van Pelt issued an apology Wednesday night after he and Ryan Clark reacted to the tragic Kyren Lacy story earlier this week before having all of the details.

In January 2025, Lacy, a former LSU wide receiver and top NFL prospect, was arrested and charged with negligent homicide, felony hit-and-run with death, and reckless operation of a motor vehicle, all stemming from a fatal car crash in Louisiana that killed a 78-year-old man on Dec. 17, 2024. Days before a grand jury hearing on his case in April, Lacy died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Last week, the attorney of Kyren Lacy released video which implied the former LSU wide receiver was nearly a football field’s length behind the fatal crash. Clark reacted to that video on-air this week after Monday Night Football, passionately proclaiming Lacy’s innocence in a speech supported by Van Pelt.

But after Louisiana State Police released a video of their own Tuesday morning, showing Lacy’s reckless driving may have led to a chain of events that caused the fatal accident, Scott Van Pelt issued an apology.

“Late last week, the attorney for former LSU football player Kyren Lacy released a video challenging the version of events that Louisiana State Police used to cite Lacy in a December auto accident which claimed the life of 78-year-old Herman Hall,” Van Pelt said Wednesday night. “On Tuesday, State Police released video and records defending their initial findings that alleged that Lacy’s operation of his vehicle created a chain of events that resulted in the crash that claimed Hall’s life. Lacy’s car is seen moving at a high rate of speed in the wrong lane just prior to the incident.

“Lacy faced several charges, including felony negligent homicide, but died by suicide days before a grand jury was set to convene, meaning his guilt or innocence will never be determined in a criminal court. The one certainty here is that this was a senseless tragedy in December and it’s magnified by a second life lost in April. I apologize for the incomplete reaction that aired on this show on Monday night.”

During Van Pelt’s Monday Night Football postgame show this week, Clark offered the below passionate defense of Lacy in response to the video released by his attorney.

“Kyren Lacy was supposed to be in the NFL. Kyren Lacy was accused of something and being investigated for something that he didn’t do,” Clark said. “And he died having to live with the guilt and the consequences of a guilty man, knowing he was innocent…There were so many stations that ran the fact that he was being investigated so I wanted to make sure here with Scott, we could say that he was an innocent man and at least know that he has that as he rests.”

Van Pelt then supported Clark’s statement with an “amen” before adding, “I can’t recall seeing something that made me react viscerally to the point that it felt like my hands were trembling to think there was video that shows this is not at all what happened and that man took his life.”

Pat McAfee similarly preached Lacy’s innocence earlier in the week, stating, “this is another thing that was just like false allegations, falsely reported, [and] changed his entire life and then now we’re finding out after he’s dead that he didn’t do it.” Like Van Pelt, McAfee issued an apology Wednesday, noting the video from State Police provided “more context… we apologize for adding any more heat.”

As of Thursday morning, Ryan Clark has not publicly addressed the Louisiana State Police providing their video as counter-evidence to show why Kyren Lacy was charged in the case.

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