A pre-Super Bowl interview with President Joe Biden appears to be back on after a high-profile tussle between the White House and Fox Corp. over who would conduct the traditional sit-down ahead of the year’s biggest television event.
(Bloomberg) — A pre-Super Bowl interview with President Joe Biden appears to be back on after a high-profile tussle between the White House and Fox Corp. over who would conduct the traditional sit-down ahead of the year’s biggest television event.
The White House said earlier Friday that Fox Corp. had declined an offer for Biden to be interviewed by its Fox Soul streaming service. Available on digital streaming channels, Fox Soul is targeted at Black viewers – and an alternative to Fox News, which is known for its conservative programming.
But Friday afternoon, Fox issued a statement indicating the sit-down would go forward.
“After the White House reached out to FOX Soul Thursday evening, there was some initial confusion. FOX Soul looks forward to interviewing the president for Super Bowl Sunday,” Fox Corp. said in a statement.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre didn’t immediately respond for a request to confirm the interview was still happening. Earlier in the day, she tweeted that Biden had been looking forward to the interview with Fox Soul.
The NFL championship game is scheduled for Sunday night, pitting the Philadelphia Eagles against the Kansas City Chiefs.
The tradition of granting interviews to the network 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 prime-time hours.
That Super Bowl was won by the Philadelphia Eagles, and Trump ultimately canceled the team’s victory celebration at the White House because some players had threatened to boycott the event.
Biden already this week sat for interviews 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.”
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.