According to Brian Steinberg of Variety, CBS News confirmed Biden will not participate in a pregame interview before the Kansas City Chiefs take on the San Francisco 49ers. This is the second Super Bowl pregame show Biden has refused an interview:
President Joe Biden will not take part in an exchange during the pre-game festivities leading up to CBS’ broadcast of Super Bowl LVIII on February 11, CBS News confirmed. The Paramount Global news operation had been in discussions with the White House in recent weeks.
Details about which correspondent might have been eyed for the assignment could not be learned, but the CBS News offer was believed to have been for a 15-minute interview, three or four minutes of which would have aired during the network’s pre-game coverage.
This will mark the second year in a row that President Biden has turned down the opportunity, which typically draws an audience of tens of millions, even in the hours before kickoff. President Biden also declined to speak to a news correspondent from Fox News Channel last year. Announcements about a Super Bowl interview with the president are usually finalized five or more days ahead of the event.
“We hope viewers enjoy watching what they tuned in for — the game,” said Ben LaBolt, a White House spokesman.
Biden’s choice to skip the interview is interesting on multiple levels. Biden, one of the most unpopular sitting presidents in history, needs to find a way of boosting his poll numbers if he hopes to compete with Donald Trump in November.
Biden must not think he can bump his appeal with swing voters by communicating his policies in an interview. One wonders what the media would have made of Trump refusing to participate in a Super Bowl pregame interview.
Biden’s decision to refuse the Super Bowl-watching public comes in a week of domestic and global chaos. The US retaliated against Iran-backed groups this week in response to an attack that killed three US Soldiers in Jordan last weekend.
Domestically, on the Super Bowl, Biden’s name has been connected to a Taylor Swift/Chiefs conspiracy. The Department of Defense released a statement Friday stating Swift is not an asset of the government. Conservative voices suggested Swift colluded with the NFL and the government to endorse Biden around or during the Super Bowl.
It appears Biden wants nothing to do with the Super Bowl at all. It’ll be interesting to see if Biden regrets ignoring millions of voters during the Super Bowl pregame when football season is in full swing this fall.
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