Donald Trump dodges presidential tradition and says no to Super Bowl interview

It's a tradition that has been in place for more than a decade, but Donald Trump has decided to ditch an interview for the biggest televised event in the US.

A White House official told CNN that Trump "is not doing a Super Bowl interview" ahead of the finale of the NFL season this weekend.

Each year, millions of people across the US and the world tune in to watch the Super Bowl, which in recent years has been preceded with a major interview with the president.

This tradition was started by George W Bush and continued by Barack Obama. Trump participated in an interview for the 2017 Super Bowl, which was aired by Fox.

However, this year's edition is being aired by NBC, who Trump has regularly attacked for being "fake."

NBC confirmed that they had had their interview requests with Trump turned down, but had left their invitation open if he changed his mind ahead of the game on the 4 February.

Trump used to be one of the stars of NBC, who aired 14 seasons of his reality TV series The Apprentice.

The president's ongoing row with the NFL over players kneeling during the national anthem could be another reason for his boycott of the event.

Recently, Trump has only given interviews to more friendlier television outfits including ITV's Piers Morgan, CNBC's Joe Kernen as well as Reuters and the Wall Street Journal.

The 2018 Super Bowl will see the New England Patriots face off against the Philadelphia Eagles, with Justin Timberlake performing the halftime show.