A typical aspect of Super Bowl broadcasts will be missing ahead of and during this Sunday’s game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles which will air on Fox.
According to Ted Johnson and Dominic Patten of Deadline, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed in a statement that President Joe Biden will not be doing a Super Bowl LVII pre-game interview with Fox.
“The President was looking forward to an interview with Fox Soul to discuss the Super Bowl, the State of the Union, and critical issues impacting the everyday lives of Black Americans,” Jean-Pierre explained. “We’ve been informed that Fox Corp. has asked for the interview to be canceled.”
Fox Soul is a network aimed at Black audiences.
Meanwhile, Brian Steinberg of Variety reported that “a Fox News executive familiar with discussions” said the White House snubbed an interview request.
“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,” that person said.
As noted by Deadline and DJ Byrnes of The Comeback, President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden are Eagles fans. Dr. Biden is set to attend Super Bowl LVII held at State Farm Stadium, home of the Arizona Cardinals.
CNN senior media reporter Oliver Darcy previously wrote for the Reliable Sources newsletter that “a source at Fox News told me Thursday evening that the right-wing channel has not heard back on whether Biden will grant it the traditional pre-Super Bowl interview, and that at this point the outlet is proceeding as if it is not going to take place.” The Deadline story mentioned that Fox News has had a “continual stream of opinion programming missing few opportunities to attack (President Biden) and his administration” since January 2021.
In February 2021, President Biden spoke with legendary broadcaster Jim Gray of Westwood One and Norah O’Donnell of CBS. Last year, he completed an interview with NBC News anchor Lester Holt.
Presidential Super Bowl interviews date back to 2009 when Barack Obama spoke with Matt Lauer. Per Brandon Contes of Awful Announcing, then-President Donald Trump passed on a Super Bowl interview with NBC in 2018.
