BET Media Group Announced President Biden will be speaking directly to Black Americans about issues affecting their communities in an interview with BET News’ Ed Gordon that will air on Wednesday, July 17.
“The conversation will focus on important issues affecting our community and discuss why Black Americans should continue to support his candidacy amid growing public concern and calls for him to step down,” according to a BET release of the interview.
It will be the president’s third scheduled interview with a television network since his disastrous June 27 debate defeat, which prompted 19 Democratic senators and other party leaders to call on him to step down as the party’s nominee.
Biden’s first live interview after the debate was with two Black hosts based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and it also sparked controversy when the hosts, WURD radio hosts Andrea Lawfull Sanders and Earl Ingram, revealed that the Biden campaign had provided them with a list of pre-approved questions from which the hosts chose questions for the interview.
Philadelphia-based WURD radio announced earlier this week that it had “mutually parted ways” with Sanders after it revealed that he had been provided with questions.
“Agreeing to a pre-determined set of questions puts that trust at risk and is not something WURD Radio practices or endorses as official policy,” WURD Radio said in a statement announcing the end of its contract with Sanders.
Wisconsin-based Civic Media, which airs Ingraham’s show, also said Thursday that it had edited its interview with Ingraham at the request of the Biden campaign.
Biden’s interview with BET is part of a larger effort by his campaign to demonstrate that he is capable of speaking unscripted and can handle the demands of a campaign and the presidency.
Biden gave an interview to ABC’s George Stephanopoulos last week, and NBC’s Lester Holt is scheduled to interview Biden on Monday.
The strategy has met with mixed success so far: After last week’s ABC interview and his press conference at the end of the NATO summit on Wednesday, more Democrats in Congress and across the country are calling for Biden to resign.
BET said in a statement that the interview will be 30 minutes long and produced by Jason Samuels, and that it will release clips, photos and a transcript of the interview in “Black America’s Vote: The Biden Interview” at a later date.
“At this critical moment, it is urgent that President Biden directly address the concerns of Black voters and articulate his vision for the future,” BET said in a statement. “In this exclusive half-hour special, we will discuss growing concerns about President Biden’s eligibility, the economic situation of Black families, his Project 2025 conservative policy agenda and the fight to engage Black voters.”
Black voters are crucial to the president’s reelection drive, and without them in states like Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Arizona, Biden’s chances of winning are slim.
Black leaders in Congress have supported the president, and not a single Black member is among those who have called for Biden to resign.
Recent New York Times/Siena College Poll The survey found that many black voters believe Biden is too old to serve as president, but it also found that 73% of black voters plan to vote for Biden.
