President Trump to opt out of Super Bowl LII interview

President Donald Trump will not participate in an interview ahead of Super Bowl LII this Sunday, which has been a long-standing tradition with past presidents, a White House official tells Fox News.

“There are no plans for POTUS to do the traditional Super Bowl interview this year,” the official said on condition of anonymity to FOX News on Thursday.

The official, however, did not offer a formal reason for skipping the tradition. But some speculate that part of reason could be that the game will be televised on NBC, which Trump has repeatedly referred to the network as “fake news” on Twitter.

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Last year, Trump sat down with former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly at the White House ahead of Super Bowl LI, just a few weeks after being sworn in as the 45th president.

Earlier this month, Variety reported that Trump was thinking about breaking the tradition since NBC was broadcasting the game, citing the president’s refusal to sit down with anyone from the network’s news division.

The traditional pre-game interview became a regular event during the Obama administration, but past presidents have opted out before. President Ronald Reagan was the first to do a Super Bowl interview with NBC’s Tom Brokaw at Super Bowl XX in 1986.