President Joe Biden will not sit down for an interview with CBS News until super bowl on February 11.
The network said the White House declined CBS News’ request for an interview with the president.
This is the second year in a row that Biden has not sat down for a chat with the network hosting the big game.
Last year, the Biden administration declined Fox News’ request for an interview and instead issued a statement explaining that the president chat with Fox Soul ahead of the game. This interview broke down when, according to the White House, parent company Fox Corp. requested its cancellation.
President Biden has sat down for an interview during the first two years of his term, speaking to Norah O’Donnell of CBS News in 2021 and Auster Holt of NBC News in 2022. It is unclear who CBS News had in mind for this year. game.
The decision to skip the interview is all the more surprising given that it is an election year.
In recent years, an interview with the president before the Super Bowl has become a tradition because of its ability to reach tens of millions of people (the game itself averages more than 100 million viewers), but this tradition could be running out of steam. Before President Biden backed out of the interview, Donald Trump also told NBC ahead of the 2018 Super Bowl.
The tradition of a formal conversation with the network hosting the Super Bowl began with then-President Barack Obama in 2009. More casually, George W. Bush engaged in a coin toss for the Super Bowl in 2002 and, in 2004, chatted with CBS Sports. ” Jim Nantz before the network broadcast the event that year.
The Kansas City Chiefs are returning to the Super Bowl this year and will face the San Francisco 49ers.
Alex Weprin contributed to this report.
