President Joe Biden won’t be sitting for a traditional interview to air before the Super Bowl following a dispute between the White House and Fox Corp. – which is broadcasting the big game this year on its broadcast network – over who would conduct the sit-down.
Fox declined a White House offer for Biden to be interviewed by its Fox Soul streaming service, the White House said Friday. Available on digital streaming channels, Fox Soul is targeted at Black viewers.
The offer appeared to be an attempt by the White House to bypass Fox News, which is known for its conservative programming.
“We offered an interview with our top news anchors with no strings attached — they’re walking away from a huge audience and it’s a major missed opportunity,” Fox News Channel said in a statement to Variety.
The tradition of granting interviews to the networks airing the championship game – which for decades has been the highest-rated single broadcast on US television – dates back to George W. Bush’s presidency. Fox has repeatedly leaned on its opinion hosts to conduct the interviews, with Bill O’Reilly tapped for sit-downs with former President Barack Obama in 2011 and 2014, and with former President Donald Trump in 2017. Sean Hannity interviewed Trump in 2020.
Trump opted against sitting for an interview in 2018, when NBC held the rights to broadcast the game and the former president was mired in a controversy over his criticism of NFL players who opted not to stand for the national anthem to protest police brutality. MSNBC, the cable news offshoot of NBC News, features liberal anchors during its primetime hours.
That Super Bowl was won by the Philadelphia Eagles – who are competing again this year – and Trump ultimately canceled the team’s victory celebration at the White House because some players had threatened to boycott the event.
Biden did sit for interviews this week with PBS News and Telemundo, and said in the latter that First Lady Jill Biden – an Eagles fan – plans to attend the Super Bowl in person. The president said his plans include watching from home with some guacamole and “a little chocolate chip ice cream.”
This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.
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