UPDATE

These people make my hair hurt. After much back and forth, Joe Biden, current resident of the White House, will do the ritual pre-game interview before Super Bowl 57. Since Fox Sports has the broadcast rights this year, it was on, it was off, and so on, and it was announced last evening that the interview would be conducted by actress Viveca A. Fox on Fox Soul. Yet, another reason to skip the whole circus and watch a Masterpiece Theater repeat tomorrow night.

Since I have lost interest in even the Super Bowl half-time show, thank you Madonna, I had no idea that this ritualistic snoozefest had been occurring since George Bush 41. The Lightbringer Obama did it all 200 eight years. Bill O’Reilly interviewed Trump in 2017, but NBC had the broadcast rights in 2018 and wanted to humiliate President Donald Trump by not interviewing him.

Last year’s taped interview by Lester Holt of Joe Biden didn’t get rave reviews, but he can’t do a live interview with a real journalist.

So maybe bring back at least some kind of live-interview element? George W. Bush and Barack Obama’s Super Bowl interviews were live. That retains some element of freshness.

Joe cannot do it. The meds have to be right. The time of day has to be right. The cheat sheet has to be big with bold lettering. There was some noise
yesterday that the interview would be on Fox Soul but then the lovely and gracious (TY Rush) Karine-Jean Pierre said Fox had cancelled on the White House:

With relative silence from the White House, Fox News officials had begun to assume that Biden would take a pass on the annual presidential interview with the news division of the game’s television host, which is Fox’s broadcast channel this year — especially amid rumblings from some Democrats that the president should spurn the conservative-leaning cable giant.
Instead, the White House unexpectedly revealed Friday that it was planning an interview with lesser-known corporate affiliate Fox Soul, a streaming channel aimed at a predominantly Black audience.
Heightening the intrigue, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre claimed in a tweet that “Fox Corp has asked for the [Fox Soul] interview to be cancelled.”
“The President was looking forward to an interview with Fox Soul to discuss the Super Bowl, the State of the Union, and critical issues impacting the everyday lives of Black Americans,” she wrote.
Her tweet seemed to take some corners of Fox by surprise. But a few hours later, a Fox Corp spokesperson said the company was, in fact, still open to doing the interview — though the White House has not yet confirmed whether it will happen.

After a day of mixed signals, President Joe Biden will grant the traditional Super Bowl pregame interview to the little-known Fox Soul entertainment streaming service. https://t.co/rEAHReFGKz

— The Associated Press (@AP) February 11, 2023

Why would Joe’s people do this to him? He has obviously gone significantly gone down hill since last year. Is this a sign of things to come now that Chief of Staff Ron Klain is gone? And, Fox Soul?

Let’s be honest, Joe Biden has no idea what “Fox Soul” is, nor does 99% of America

— Ray H. Bedner (@RayHBedner) February 11, 2023

This could be interesting. From MSN:

Fox Soul is a streaming network within the company, which is described on its website as “a new live and interactive streaming channel dedicated to the African American viewer. The programs aim to celebrate black culture and deal with real topics that impact the everyday lives of the black community through frank and insightful dialogue with local and national influencers.”
A Fox Corporation spokesperson said the interview will be conducted by actress Vivica A. Fox, who’s the host of Fox Soul’s “Cocktails with Queens” and “Fox Soul’s Screening Room,” and Mike Hill, a Fox Soul personality and contributor and FS1 sportscaster.

I have no idea who the other guy is but I love Viveca A. Fox–as an actress. Here is from her Fox Soul Cocktails with Queens:

Imma pray for her. This could get riveting and if I can’t stream anything interesting, I may tune in to the Super Bowl LVII/Fox Soul interview.

This morning we have been advised that the interview will not take place:

The White House said on Friday night that President Biden will not sit down with Fox for an interview ahead of the Super Bowl on Sunday, calling an earlier statement from Fox Corp. “inaccurate.”
“As we said earlier, we had arranged an interview with Fox Sports Host Mike Hill & Vivica A. Fox with the President ahead of the Super Bowl and Fox Corp had the interview cancelled,” a White House spokesperson said, per CNN Business. “FOX has since put out a statement indicating the interview was rescheduled, which is inaccurate.”

These people!

Featured Collage: Drew Coffman/flickr.com/cropped/Creative Commons/DonkeyHotey/flickr.com/cropped/Creative Commons