An interview of the President of the United States has become something of a tradition during the marathon that is Super Bowl Sunday pregame coverage. When you are broadcasting a pregame show for what seems like 97 consecutive hours, you might as well, right? Even other sporting events have made interviews with the President part of their major event coverage as we’ve also seen President Obama interviewed at the NBA All-Star Game and Olympics.
Well, this year’s edition of the now annual tradition promises to be one that might actually produce some headlines compared to interviews we’ve seen in the past. That’s because President-Elect Donald Trump will sit down with the face of Fox News, Bill O’Reilly, for a Super Bowl Sunday interview.
Here’s more details via Fox News, which says it will also double as Trump’s first interview after taking office:
Bill O’Reilly will have a sit-down interview with soon-to-be President Donald Trump that will air during the Super Bowl pregame show on FOX on Feb. 5 at 4 p.m. ET, FOX News announced on Tuesday.
The interview will be recorded earlier in the day on Super Bowl Sunday at the White House and cover many topics. Some portions of the interview will air during “The O’Reilly Factor” on Feb. 6 at 8 p.m. ET.
Following the program, O’Reilly’s entire sit-down with Trump will be available on FoxNews.com.
O’Reilly interviewed Trump multiple times when he was vying for the White House, but this will mark his first interview with Trump as the President of the United States.
O’Reilly also interviewed President Obama three years ago the last time Fox televised the Super Bowl, but my guess is given the ideology of the network and the political party of the President, this interview will likely take on a much different tone.
What’s fascinating about this is that we might not have gotten a Trump interview as part of the Super Bowl coverage had another network had the rights to the game. With NBC, CBS, and Fox rotating on a three year cycle, it just happens to be Fox’s year and a year where Trump can get what amounts to an interview with the home team. Given his contentious relationship with pretty much any other real news outlet, who knows, perhaps he would have foregone the opportunity to speak to the nation on Super Bowl Sunday.
One slight difference is that Trump’s interview will be taped while Obama’s Super Bowl Sunday interview last year was live. That might cut down on the chance that the President says something truly bombastic that might take away attention from the actual game itself. Yes, that statement might sound crazy since we’re talking about the Super Bowl, but that’s the kind of world we live in these days.
[Fox News]
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