White House says Biden won’t do Super Bowl interview, blames Fox

President Biden will not sit for the traditional pre-Super Bowl interview with Fox, which is airing the game on Sunday, the White House said early Friday.

The president typically gives an interview to air in the lead-up to the Super Bowl, and Biden has done so in each of his first two years in office, sitting down with CBS and NBC, respectively. The White House blamed Fox on Friday for the lapse this year.

“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,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre tweeted Friday. “We’ve been informed that Fox Corp has asked for the interview to be cancelled.”

Jean-Pierre’s claim comes after Fox News anchors said Tuesday night that the network was waiting on the White House to agree to a presidential interview.

“The president is going to be out on the road, taking his message to the road. Every year, traditionally, the network covering the Super Bowl gets an interview with the president of the United States,” said Bret Baier, a top anchor at the network, during its coverage of Biden’s State of the Union address. “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.”

Jean-Pierre had been asked multiple times this week whether there was any word on if Biden would do the traditional Super Bowl interview with Fox, and in each instance she said she did not have any updates.

Biden this week has done televised interviews with PBS Newshour and Telemundo during separate trips to Wisconsin and Florida.

Presidents have typically done interviews with the network airing the Super Bowl, which is watched by millions of viewers, dating back to 2004. Former President Obama sat down twice for Super Bowl interviews with Fox during his presidency.

Former President Donald Trump skipped an interview with NBC when the network broadcast the game in 2018.

Fox News, the top-watched cable news network, has aggressively covered Biden’s campaign and presidency, with several of its leading prime-time hosts routinely criticizing his administration, policies and family business dealings. 

Biden has butted heads with Fox News White House corresopndent Peter Doocy throughout his administration, calling him a “stupid son of a bitch” last year. Biden later called Doocy to apologize.

Some Democrats have argued that Biden and the White House should ignore the network, saying it puts out misleading information through its opinion programming and does not fairly cover the administration.

Updated at 1:47 p.m.