Former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is speaking out for the first time since Sunday’s airing of an interview with CBS Sunday Morning, where the former NFL head coach was asked about his relationship with 24-year-old Jordon Hudson. During the interview that aired on CBS, Belichick was asked about the backstory on how the two met, which led Hudson to interrupt the interview taping, saying that would not be discussed in the interview.
After the airing, the viral moment made headwinds around the country, as Hudson has been criticized for her role portrayed in the interview on CBS. In a development that followed, Wednesday morning brought a report from The New York Times stating that Hudson “played an instrumental role in stopping the production, related to her request to be heavily involved” in a potential taping of the NFL Films series Hard Knocks surrounding the University of North Carolina football program, where Belichick now works.
Later that same day, Wednesday afternoon, Belichick attempted to clear the air by releasing a statement through the University of North Carolina.
“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,” Belichick stated. “Unfortunately, that expectation was not honored during the interview.”
Furthermore, Belichick expressed his surprise regarding unrelated topics to the book that were asked during the interview, which he says was repeatedly communicated to CBS reporter Tony Dokoupil and the production staff. Moreover, he defended how Hudson handled herself during the taping of the interview when the requests were not met, according to Belichick.
“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,” Belichick wrote. “She was not deflecting any specific question or topic but simply doing her job to ensure the interview stayed on track.”
The former Patriots head coach expressed that he feels the interview was selectively edited to suggest a false narrative.
“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 conversations – which is simply not true,” wrote Belichick.
CBS News released a statement of their own regarding claims that Belichick’s wishes for the interview were not met.
Since joining the network in 2016, Dokoupil has interviewed a variety of major artists, entertainers, and newsmakers, among them First Lady Hillary Clinton, comedy legend Steve Martin, and music superstars Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt.
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