CBS News refutes Bill Belichick’s claims that there were agreed-upon limitations before they interviewed him about his new book, The Art of Winning: Lessons from a Life in Football.
Belichick, 73, sat for an interview with Tony Dokoupil that aired on Sunday, April 27, during CBS Sunday Morning. The edited segment included an awkward moment when Belichick’s girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, shut down the interview when the journalist asked the new UNC-Chapel Hill head football coach how he met the 24-year-old.
In his first public comments on the situation, Belichick said he “clearly communicated” with his publicist at Simon & Schuster, The Art of Winning’s publisher, 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,” Belichick’s statement, sent via email by the University of North Carolina on Wednesday, continued. “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.”
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CBS News disputes this version of events.
“When we agreed to speak with Mr. Belichick, it was for a wide-ranging interview,” the network said in a statement shared with PEOPLE. “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.”
In the segment that aired, Dokoupil asked Belichick how he met Hudson. After she stopped the interview, Dokoupil said in a voiceover, “It’s a topic neither one of them is comfortable commenting on.” The journalist also said Hudson was a “constant presence” during the conversation.
Dokoupil also asked Belichick what he thought of the interest his relationship with Hudson has attracted.
“I’ve never been too worried about what everyone else thinks,” Belichick replied, adding that he tries “to do what I feel like is best for me, and what’s right.”
Jordan Hudson/Instagram
Bill Belichick and Jordon Hudson
The scene sparked speculation about the nature of Belichick and Hudson’s relationship and how they met. In his statement, Belichick defended her, saying she was “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,” Belichick said, adding that the final segment that aired “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,” the former New England Patriots coach wrote.
Footage from the interview showed Hudson sitting just off camera and watching while Belichick was being interviewed.
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Related: Jordon Hudson Supports Boyfriend Bill Belichick on the Field as He Coaches UNC Football Practice
Hudson’s first public comments about the interview came on Tuesday, April 29, when she published a screenshot of an email from her boyfriend, apparently written to his book publishers. In it, he shared his concerns over promoting the book, and appeared upset over an article that focused more on his admission that he “f—– up” in a Super Bowl over other topics.
Her Instagram post included a second slide of a screenshot from a video in her camera roll, with just two sets of shoes on grass visible. It also had a timestamp of 35 minutes and 59 seconds. Hudson tagged Dokoupil and CBS Sunday Morning’s Instagram accounts.
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