Why is Joe Biden not doing an interview at Super Bowl LVII?
The President is breaking a long-standing tradition and will not appear pregame to speak to the millions watching.
Has your head stopped spinning? Mine just about has. After a day of confusion and contradictory statements regarding the matter, it has finally been confirmed that President of the USA, Joe Biden, will not appear on television to conduct the traditional Super Bowl pregame interview.
The President is doing away with the tradition that normally sees the channel hosting the sporting event granted an interview with the leader of the country; Biden had participated when NBC and CBS aired the game but his relationship with FOX is less-than-ideal and the 80-year-old will not participate, after turning down the proposal.
Or so we thought.
Why is Biden not doing an interview with FOX?
The New York Times reported that after denying FOX the interview, the White House pursued an interview with Fox Soul, “a relatively obscure streaming channel aimed at Black audiences” in which Biden was to be interviewed by Mike Hill, a Fox Sports broadcaster, and Vivica A. Fox, a Black actress and TV host. They said that the deal was agreed “because of a desire to reach a different audience”.
But then that was cancelled.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre came out to explain that Biden was “looking forward to” the interview, until the broadcasting company “asked for the interview to be cancelled”.
Conflicting reports regarding the interview
So, as has become custom in the modern world, it depends which version of the truth you believe. Yesterday was filled with statements and comebacks and lies and pretty much every version of events you could conceive, but in the end, it appears as though FOX were the ones who pulled the plug.
Until it came to light that they had already sent their presenters to Washington to conduct the interview. Are you keeping up?
In the end, to stop rumours swirling and anger levels rising, the White House came out and put an end to everything: “As we said earlier, we had arranged an interview with Fox Sports host Mike Hill and Vivica A. Fox with the president ahead of the Super Bowl, and Fox Corporation had the interview canceled,” the White House said. “Fox has since put out a statement indicating the interview was rescheduled, which is inaccurate.”
So, to sum up: the first interview was cancelled by Biden, who set one up with another broadcaster, that was then cancelled by FOX, who had already sent their presenters to Washington to do it. Anyway, the football.