Fox News rejects White House demands to retract Easter egg stories

Fox News is rejecting a call from Biden administration officials to retract coverage of the policy on Easter egg art used during the White House’s annual holiday celebration earlier this week.

The White House has throughout the week forcefully pushed back on coverage across conservative media of the Easter Egg Roll, some of which incorrectly claimed the administration instituted a new ban on religious symbols for designs on eggs — a ban has been in place for decades.

The administration offered rare praise earlier this week for the conservative website The Daily Caller, which retracted a story that said the Biden White House “banned children from submitting Easter eggs with religious themes” for its Easter art contest Monday.

Administration officials have complained to Fox News leadership over stories published on the outlet’s website regarding the eggs, the online news outlet Semafor reported.

“We stand by our reporting as it accurately quotes the ‘2024 Call for Youth Art’ flyer which states Easter egg design submissions ‘must not include any questionable content, religious symbols, overtly religious themes,” a Fox spokesperson told The Hill on Thursday. “The story also includes on the record comments from American Egg Board President & CEO Emily Metz who explains that these longstanding guidelines are due to USDA rules.” 

The Fox story, originally published Friday, notes that “after publication of this article,” Metz told Fox “that for the past 47 years they’ve partnered with the White House.” 

The dust-up between the White House and Fox News over Easter egg art is just the latest episode in what has been a frosty relationship between the White House and the top-watched cable channel during President Biden’s time in office.

Administration officials often push back on claims made by top Fox hosts about the president, while Fox correspondents regularly pepper White House spokespeople with questions about Biden’s mental acuity, policies, and controversies surrounding his son Hunter Biden.