I recall Richard Reeves book on Kennedy that delved into the hidden diplomacy to the Cuban missile crises that nobody was aware of at the time. Bottom line, Kennedy was in direct contact with Kruschev throughout and a deal was made that was not revealed til many years later that allowed the situation to de-escalate. Kennedy saved face and came off looking strong, but what he really did was pull the missiles already deployed in Turkey and promise not to assasinate Castro.
I get the impression the same thing is going on here. There is some serious deal making going on behind the scenes and maybe an agreement was reached between the time Morrison agreed to do the show and the time he actually appeared, so he needed to de-escalate.