NEW YORK, Sept. 23 (UPI) — Republican challenger Donald Trump on Wednesday said he will no longer give interviews for the Fox News Channel — over what he’s viewed as “unfair” treatment by the network.
Trump made the declaration on his Twitter account Wednesday.
“Fox News has been treating me very unfairly [and] I have therefore decided that I won’t be doing any more Fox shows for the foreseeable future,” his tweet said.
Trump has not specified exactly what treatment he views as unfair, although he did mention Fox News commentators Bill O’Reilly and Megyn Kelly in a series of tweets Monday.
“I steer away from Fox now. Never thought that would happen,” one tweet said.
“Fox has become a supporter of Liberals! They are Not supporting the GOP candidates-especially Trump! Quit watching,” another said.
While the Fox News Channel has been slammed for many things since it launched in 1996, being a vehicle for liberal Democrats almost certainly hasn’t been among them — as the network has long been accused of favoring Republicans over Democrats.
“I can only watch [Sean] Hannity. I think he is the only one in your corner,” Trump tweeted.
An ongoing feud has persisted between Trump and Kelly since the first Republican debate on Aug. 6, during which she asked a question regarding perceived mistreatment of women.
“Mr. Trump, one of the things people love about you is you speak your mind and you don’t use a politician’s filter. However, that is not without its downsides, in particular, when it comes to women. You’ve called women you don’t like fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals,” Kelly said during the debate.
“Only Rosie O’Donnell,” Trump quipped.
Fox News issued a statement Wednesday in response to Trump’s criticisms. The network claims Trump’s attacks may have been a response to the outlet’s cancellation of an appearance by Trump on The O’Reilly Factor Thursday.
“At 11:45am 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.”
“Those complaints carried the usual Trump trifecta of baselessness, thin-skinnedness and narcissism,” Washington Post columnist Erik Wemple wrote Wednesday.
It remains to be seen what, if any, impact Trump’s boycott will have on his campaign.
