CNN —
The White House says President Joe Biden will not sit down for an interview with Fox before the Super Bowl, ending an awkward back-and-forth between the Biden administration and the television networks with which it often occurs.
Earlier Friday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Fox had pulled the plug on an administration proposal to have an interview with Fox Soul, a small streaming platform aimed at black Americans.
“The President was looking forward to an interview with Fox Soul to discuss the Super Bowl, the State of the Union, and important issues affecting the everyday lives of Black Americans. We have been informed that Fox Corp. has decided to cancel the interview. asked for,” said Jean-Pierre do Friday.
Hours later, Fox said it would interview the president, claiming there had been a mix-up with the White House. Fox said its reporters had flown from Los Angeles to Washington to do the interview.
But Friday night, the administration said the interview is still closed.
A White House spokeswoman told CNN, “As we previously stated, we had arranged an interview with Fox Sports host Mike Hill and the president of Fox Sports before the Super Bowl, and Fox Corp. canceled the interview.” Was.” “Fox has since put out a statement indicating that the interview was rescheduled, which is incorrect.”
Typically, such interviews are pre-taped on the Friday before the Super Bowl, with the network airing the event.
For weeks, Fox News had been demanding an interview with Biden. But the White House has never committed to the right-wing channel, with which the White House has had a contentious relationship.
Instead, the White House attempted to circumvent Fox News by trying to set up an interview with Fox Soul. An interview with Fox Soul Network could allow the White House to still participate in the traditional pre-game conversation with Fox-aligned outlets without having to sit down with one of Fox News’ anchors or reporters.
Biden’s Fox News snub was the latest example of the Democratic president taking the right-wing channel off the ice and refusing requests to sit down with its hosts and anchors.
Despite the network repeatedly saying so, Biden did not give a single interview to Fox News during his presidency. The channel portrays him and his administration in a negative light, with far-right personalities like Tucker Carlson regularly launching vicious attacks on Biden.
Fox Corp. was not formally dismissed on Thursday, but “it’s not like it’s working,” according to a person familiar with the matter at Fox News, who requested anonymity because they could not be interviewed. were not authorized to speak publicly about the
Biden sat down for two televised interviews earlier in the week, one with PBS NewsHour and the other with Telemundo, which makes the snub all the more notable.
There are a few recent examples of subverting the traditional pre-Super Bowl interview. President Donald Trump, who has villainized the press with lies and smears, refused to sit down with anchor Lester Holt when NBC hosted the Super Bowl in 2018.
If Biden had done an interview with Fox News before the Super Bowl, it would almost certainly have been with Brett Baier, a generally respected, traditional news anchor.
It is not only Fox News’ right-wing commentators with whom Biden has taken issue. The president also clashed with Fox News reporters last year, calling White House correspondent Peter Dokey a “stupid son of a bitch.” Biden later called Dookie to apologize.
