You're presumption is defaulted to "Bronco made thinly veiled criticism." No. That's just you seeing what you want to see. Sometimes words just mean what they mean. If you actually listed to the interview and heard the laughing and the tone...and how he was joking with Stewart during the interview about them building a statue for him under the Y...if you then still see malice it's totally on you.
“He who takes offense when no offense is intended is a fool, and he who takes offense when offense is intended is a greater fool.”
― Brigham Young