Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he’s boycotting Fox News, accusing the right-leaning media outlet of treating him unfairly.
In a message to his 4.26 million Twitter followers, Trump said "@FoxNews has been treating me very unfairly & I have therefore decided that I won’t be doing any more Fox shows for the foreseeable future."
Trump has been at odds with Fox News since the first Republican presidential debate in August when the network’s Megyn Kelly asked him a question about negative comments he’s made about women.
The real estate mogul and former reality television show host lashed out anew at Fox News Tuesday and Wednesday, accusing Bill O’Reilly, host of the network’s "The O’Reilly Factor," of booking "Trump haters" and calling Kelly a "lightweight" in a tweet.
Fox News Channel spokesperson, in a statement, said it had ditched Trump before he ditched them.
“At 11:45 a.m. today, we canceled Donald Trump’s scheduled appearance on ‘The O’Reilly Factor’ on Thursday, which resulted in Mr. Trump’s subsequent tweet about his ‘boycott’ of FOX News,” the statement said. “The press predictably jumped to cover his tweet, creating yet another distraction from any real issues that Mr. Trump might be questioned about. When coverage doesn’t go his way, he engages in personal attacks on our anchors and hosts, which has grown stale and tiresome. He doesn’t seem to grasp that candidates telling journalists what to ask is not how the media works in this country.”
Trump’s presidential campaign stood behind his tweet.
“As a candidate for President of the United States and the definitive front runner in every poll, both nationally and state wide, including the just released poll in the state of Florida, Mr. Trump expects to be treated fairly,” the campaign’s statement said. “All you have to do is look at the tremendous ratings last night from ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,’ where Mr. Trump was the guest, or the ratings from both debates, to fully understand the facts.”
William Douglas: 202-383-6026, @williamgdouglas