North Carolina head coach Bill Belichick issued a statement Wednesday addressing his controversial interview with CBS that aired on Sunday.
Belichick addressed claims that his girlfriend Jordon Hudson was an overbearing presence during a “CBS Sunday Morning” feature. One clip in particular showed Hudson seemingly interrupting the interview to shut down a question about how she and Belichick met, which went viral online.
In his statement, Belichick claimed that he had made clear to his publicist that he would only do interviews regarding the content of his new book, but CBS and interviewer Tony Dokoupil did not honor that request, and that the interview was selectively edited to make Hudson look controlling.
“I repeatedly expressed to the reporter, Tony Dokoupil, and the producers that I preferred to keep the conversation centered on the book,” Belichick said in the statement. “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.”
