President Joe Biden has chosen to forgo the tradition of participating in a pregame Super Bowl interview, a practice embraced by recent presidents as an annual ritual.
This decision is particularly noteworthy in an election year, given that presidents typically use the broad viewership of the marquee football event to their advantage.
While participating in such interviews when NBC and CBS aired the Super Bowl, Biden abstained last year when Fox broadcasted the game.
Biden Declines Super Bowl Interview (Credits: Deadline)
This year, with CBS set to air the Super Bowl on Feb. 11, Biden has once again opted not to partake in the interview, as confirmed by the White House to POLITICO after Variety initially reported the news.
In response to Biden’s decision, White House spokesperson Ben LaBolt stated to the entertainment outlet, “We hope viewers enjoy watching what they tuned in for — the game.”
The tradition of a formal pregame broadcast interview was initiated by former President Barack Obama, aiming to leverage the Super Bowl’s massive viewership.
However, former President Donald Trump broke with this tradition in 2018, skipping an interview with NBC. Trump’s decision came after extensive criticism of both the network’s reporting and the NFL over player protests during the national anthem.
The Super Bowl consistently attracts tens of millions of viewers, offering a significantly larger audience than the president can expect from most media appearances. In 2023, the game reached a new record with approximately 115 million viewers.
Leading up to this year’s Super Bowl, a conspiracy theory revolving around pop star Taylor Swift gained traction on the right.
Swift, who endorsed Biden in 2020, became the center of speculation, with prominent conservative figures, including former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, suggesting that the game might be manipulated in favor of Swift’s partner, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
The theory proposed that this manipulation would provide Swift with a prime platform to deliver an endorsement during the event.
