Biden to sit for Super Bowl interview with Fox Soul, after all

President Biden will sit for an interview with Fox Soul ahead of the Super Bowl on Sunday, the network confirmed, after the White House initially said the network had canceled the interview altogether.

“After the White House reached out to FOX Soul Thursday evening, there was some initial confusion,” a Fox Corp. spokesperson said in a statement. “FOX Soul looks forward to interviewing the President for Super Bowl Sunday.”

Fox Soul is a network and live streaming service that caters its content to Black Americans. It launched in January 2020.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre earlier Friday tweeted that Biden “was looking forward to an interview with Fox Soul,” but that Fox had asked for the interview to be canceled.

Fox News anchors had 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.”

Presidents have typically done interviews with the network airing the Super Bowl, which is watched by millions of viewers, dating back to 2004. Biden in the past two years did interviews with CBS and NBC, respectively, before those networks broadcast the game.

Former President Trump skipped an interview with NBC in 2018. Former President Obama sat down twice with Fox News before the Super Bowl during his time in office.

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. 

Sunday’s game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles will kick off at 6:30 p.m. Eastern time.