Oof. Biden’s not doing a Super Bowl interview after all
This is ridiculous.
After the White House announced Friday that a Super Bowl pregame interview with Fox Soul had fallen through, Fox Corp. announced that it was back on again. And then the White House announced it was off again.
Later both sides took naps, drank juice boxes and went outside for recess.
Seriously, this has gotten silly. If you can’t keep up, the bottom line (as of now) is that there will be no presidential interview before the game.
What the heck is going on with the Biden-Fox Super Bowl interview?
A brief recap: The White House announced Friday that plans for a potential interview on the Fox streaming platform had fallen through.
“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,” Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said. “We’ve been informed that Fox Corp. has asked for the interview to be canceled.”
Not so fast. “After the White House reached out to Fox Soul Thursday evening, there was some initial confusion,” a Fox Corp. spokesperson said. “Fox Soul looks forward to interviewing the President for Super Bowl Sunday.”
Nope. Later the White House issued a statement: “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. Fox has since put out a statement indicating the interview was rescheduled, which is inaccurate.” Oh come on.
When did presidents start doing Super Bowl pregame interviews?
Presidents typically sit for an interview before the game, though not always. George W. Bush started the practice when Jim Nantz interviewed him before the 2004 Super Bowl. Biden did a quick one before the 2022 Super Bowl. Barack Obama did them live, which was a little more exciting.
Donald Trump, like Biden, taped his, and he skipped out altogether in 2018, due to a beef with NBC News.
These interviews are not typically journalistic bombshells. But they are a platform for the president when a lot of people are watching.
Is Fox Soul different from Fox News?
All of the drama certainly made it seem as if Biden wants to shape the interview in such a way that would give him a more sympathetic platform. Fox Soul is a streaming platform aimed at Black audiences. No one expected Biden to agree to sit down with flamethrowers like Tucker Carlson or Sean Hannity, who routinely go after Biden without typical guardrails like context, accuracy or even truth. And in reality, watching Carlson or Hannity draw Biden into their alternative-reality vortex wouldn’t be great journalism. But it would be explosive TV.
More likely an interview with Fox News would have been conducted by Bret Baier, the anchor who — since Chris Wallace bolted — has the best reputation for fairness at the network.
The Fox Soul interview would have been better than nothing. But it wouldn’t have nearly the reach, nor the interest, of an interview with Baier or another Fox News anchor. That’s what the White House and the network should have agreed to.
SOTU showed that Biden can mix it up. Why not on Fox News?
He showed during his State of the Union address Tuesday that he can mix it up, as he did with the disgraceful Republicans who heckled him during the speech as if it were a high-school parking lot fight. It made Biden look stronger and clowns like Marjorie Taylor Greene look like immature would-be bullies.
Sure, Trump passed on one with a network he didn’t like. And it’s pretty clear Biden doesn’t like Fox News, as he has not granted them an interview since he became president. But this could have been a signature moment for Biden as he pushes his agenda.