President Trump Declined Traditional Super Bowl Interview With NBC

President Donald Trump has decided against doing a traditional Super Bowl interview before the game.

NBC News sources told Variety on Jan. 19 that the White House told the peacock network it was not going to take part in the fairly recent custom. On Feb. 1, a White House official confirmed to CNN there will be no interview before Super Bowl LII.

The pre-Super Bowl presidential interview was an idea hatched during President George W. Bush’s administration. President Barack Obama kept the new tradition going in 2009 and sat for an interview every year before the game. Last year, Trump talked with then-Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly when Fox aired the Super Bowl.

One reason for the new tradition is the Super Bowl allows a president a unique opportunity. It is the most-watched broadcast every year, so the president could reach an unprecedented audience. For example, a combined 45.6 million viewers watched the State of the Union on Tuesday. Meanwhile, 111.3 million people watched Super Bowl LI.

Trump would have been interviewed by an NBC News journalist, who would likely have asked about Trump’s criticism of the NFL. Last fall, Trump called for NFL owners to fire players who do not stand for the National Anthem, and criticised the league for not creating rules forcing the players to do so.

Trump has also called NBC “fake news.” When the network fired Today Show anchor Matt Lauer for sexual misconduct, the president tweeted, “when will the top executives at NBC & Comcast be fired for putting out so much Fake News.”

The Super Bowl broadcasting rights rotate among the three networks that air the NFL games during the season. Next year’s game will air on CBS, and Fox will get the game again in 2020.

Super Bowl LII kicks off on Sunday at 6 p.m. ET/5 p.m. CT on NBC, with the New England Patriots taking on the Philadelphia Eagles.