President Joe Biden has opted out of doing the traditional Super Bowl interview with the sitting American president for the second year in a row, CBS News said. Last year, the White house seemed to be close to an agreement, but negotiations with Fox over Biden’s appearance ultimately fell through.
Before these two years, the annual Super Bowl interview with the president has been watched by tens of millions of viewers.
“We hope viewers enjoy watching what they tuned in for — the game,” White House spokesman Ben LaBolt said, according to Variety, which first reported the news.
While last year’s choice to not speak with Fox appeared to be due to the continued acrimony between Democrats and conservative outlet Fox News, the choice to skip the large platform for an interview with CBS continues a record of Biden doing fewer press appearances as president than previous commanders-in-chief.
The presidential Super Bowl interview being a yearly event began with Biden’s former boss, President Barack Obama, in 2009. Earlier former presidents, including George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, have done interviews tied to the Super Bowl, but had not done so annually. One of those was Clinton using a 1992 post-game edition of “60 Minutes” to deny infidelity allegations.
