The Biden administration has played Fox News all week on whether or not Joe Biden will do a traditional Super Bowl interview with the network this Sunday. The White House turned to Fox News on Thursday and arranged for a softball interview with two people with Fox Soul, a little-known digital broadcast and streaming service. That deal was initially shot down by Fox Corp., prompting a statement from the White House on Friday. Hours later Fox Corporation relented, saying Fox Soul would interview Biden and two Fox Soul personalities, Vivica A. Fox and Michael Hill announced that they had flown to Washington to conduct the interview.
“The president was looking forward to an interview with Fox Soul to discuss the Super Bowl, the State of the Union and critical issues affecting the daily lives of black Americans. We’re told Fox Corp has asked to cancel the interview.
The president looked forward to an interview with Fox Soul to discuss the Super Bowl, the State of the Union and critical issues affecting the daily lives of black Americans. We’re told Fox Corp asked to cancel the interview.
— Karine Jean-Pierre (@PressSec) February 10, 2023
Fox Corporation later released a statement saying, “After Fox Soul reached out to the White House on Thursday evening, there was some initial confusion. Fox Soul looks forward to interviewing the president for Super Bowl Sunday.”
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On Friday night, the White House issued a statement that the interview was still off (via Variety):
“As we previously stated, we have scheduled an interview with Fox Sports host Mike Hill and Vivica A. Fox and Fox Corp. canceled an interview with the president prior to the Super Bowl. FOX released a statement indicating that the interview had been rescheduled, which is not accurate,” a White House spokesperson said.
…but Fox’s original intent was to interview Biden for Fox News. The idea did not go down well with the White House. Earlier Friday, a Fox News executive told Variety that “we gave interviews with our top news anchors with no strings attached. They are moving away from a larger audience and this is a major missed opportunity. Within minutes, the White House press secretary tweeted that Fox Corp had canceled the interview agreement with Fox Soul.
Fox Corporation then tried to embrace the new idea. “After the White House reached out to Fox Soul on Thursday evening, there was some initial confusion. Fox Soul looks forward to interviewing the president for Super Bowl Sunday,” Fox Corp. said in a statement. The Fox broadcast network is expected to televise Super Bowl LVII on Sunday, February 13.
Earlier this week, Fox News anchor Bret Baier reported on the failure to reach an agreement with Biden for an interview:
Watch: Fox @BrettBayer: “Every year, the network that traditionally airs the Superbowl gets an interview @POTUS. We have formally asked for that interview but have yet to hear back whether they will do it or not. We are running out of days. ” #SuperBowl pic.twitter.com/ptEgkA5IA6
— TV News Now (@TVNewsNow) February 8, 2023