President Joe Biden appears ready to break with tradition and not participate in a pre-Super Bowl interview with the family of networks airing the big game.
A Fox News source told CNN that the White House has not yet agreed to such an interview, and multiple Fox News anchors have made similar observations on air.
“Every year, traditionally, the network covering the Super Bowl gets an interview with the president of the United States,” said anchor Bret Baier on Tuesday, according to The Hill. “We have formally asked for that interview, but we have not received an answer yet, whether they are going to officially do it or not. … We’re running out of days.”
The White House, on the other hand, has said Fox Corp. is responsible for the lack of a planned interview. Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre tweeted Friday that network leaders canceled Biden’s appointment to film with Fox Soul.
“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. We’ve been informed that Fox Corp. has asked for the interview to be canceled,” Jean-Pierre tweeted.
Biden participated in the pre-Super Bowl interview tradition last year, when he sat down NBC News anchor Lester Holt ahead of the game, which aired on NBC. The conversation aired on Sunday, Feb. 13, during pregame coverage of the Super Bowl, Variety reported.
Biden has also taken part in many other one-on-one interviews during his presidency, including as recently as this week. The president recorded conversations with PBS NewsHour and Telemundo over the past few days, CNN reported.
Still, Biden’s rumored refusal to appear on Fox News is not that surprising, since he has a contentious relationship with the network, the article noted.
“Biden has not granted Fox News a single interview during his presidency, despite the network repeatedly asking,” CNN reported.
If Sunday’s Super Bowl coverage is missing a presidential interview, it wouldn’t be the first time that happened since then-President Barack Obama informally launched the tradition.
“President (Donald) Trump in 2018 opted to forgo a sit down with NBC News and anchor Lester Holt. At the time, people familiar with discussions between NBC News and the White House believed President Trump wanted to avoid a conversation about criticism he had made of NFL players who had knelt during the playing of the national anthem to protest social injustice in the United States,” Variety reported.