CBS News Fires Back at Bill Belichick, Says He Agreed to ‘No Preconditions or Limitations’ for Interview

Photo via CBS News.

CBS News is firing back at football coach Bill Belichick after he attacked the network over his eyebrow-raising interview on CBS News Sunday Morning and claimed it had presented a “false narrative” with “selectively-edited clips.”

Belichick, the head football coach at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill after collecting a record-setting six Super Bowl rings with the New England Patriots, was on the program to promote his upcoming memoir. The coach, who is 73, has been dating 24-year-old Jordon Hudson, and one of the most viral moments came when CBS News reporter Tony Dokoupil asked him about the controversy regarding their age gap and asked how they met.

Hudson, whom Dokupil described as a “constant presence” during the interview, immediately interjected to say Belichick was “not talking about this.” TMZ later reported that Hudson became so incensed at one point that she stormed off set, delaying the interview for half an hour, among other disruptions.

Belichick released a statement on Sunday, bashing CBS News:

I agreed to speak with CBS Sunday Morning to promote my new book, “The Art of Winning – Lessons from My Life in Football.” Prior to this interview, I clearly communicated with my publicist at Simon & Schuster that any promotional interviews I participated in would agree to focus solely on the contents of the book.

Unfortunately, that expectation was not honored during the interview. I was surprised when unrelated topics were introduced, and I repeatedly expressed to the reporter, Tony Dokoupil, and the producers that I preferred to keep the conversation centered on the book. After this occurred several times, Jordon, with whom I share both a personal and professional relationship, stepped in to reiterate that point to help refocus the discussion. She was not deflecting any specific question or topic but simply doing her job to ensure the interview stayed on track. Some of the clips make it appear as though we were avoiding the question of how we met, but we have been open about the fact that Jordon and I met on a flight to Palm Beach in 2021.

The final eight-minute segment does not reflect the productive 35-minute conversation we had, which covered a wide range of topics related to my career. Instead, it presents selectively edited clips and stills from just a few minutes of the interview to suggest a false narrative — that Jordon was attempting to control the conversation — which is simply not true.

CBS News has now responded to Belichick’s accusations, in a statement from a network spokesperson provided to Mediaite and posted on social media:

When we agreed to speak with Mr. Belichick, it was for a wide-ranging interview. There were no preconditions or limitations to this conversation. This was confirmed repeatedly with his publisher before the interview took place and after it was completed.

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