Fox News condemned Donald Trump in its most strongly worded statement to date after the GOP front-runner encouraged his supporters to boycott anchor Megyn Kelly.
Everybody should boycott the @megynkelly show. Never worth watching. Always a hit on Trump! She is sick, & the most overrated person on tv.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 18, 2016
“Donald Trump’s vitriolic attacks against Megyn Kelly and his extreme, sick obsession with her is beneath the dignity of a presidential candidate who wants to occupy the highest office in the land,” a network spokesperson said in a statement provided to TheBlaze.
“Megyn is an exemplary journalist and one of the leading anchors in America — we’re extremely proud of her phenomenal work and continue to fully support her throughout every day of Trump’s endless barrage of crude and sexist verbal assaults,” the statement added. “As the mother of three young children, with a successful law career and the second highest rated show in cable news, it’s especially deplorable for her to be repeatedly abused just for doing her job.”
The network has pushed back against Trump in the past, but this is the first time that it has accused him outright of sexism. It is also the first time that it has implied directly that he is unfit to be president of the United States.
Trump’s one-sided feud with Kelly (she rarely responds) dates back to August 2015, when the evening news anchor asked the Republican candidate a series of questions at the first GOP primary debate about sexist remarks that he had made in the past.
Trump responded with remarks about how “political correctness” is destroying the country. He complained after the debate that Kelly’s questions were “unfair” and “not nice.”
Later, in an interview with CNN, Trump seemingly suggested that Kelly may have been menstruating during the debate.
Since then, Trump has attacked Kelly at random intervals, criticizing her repeatedly on social media and in interviews. As recently as Tuesday, Trump launched another barrage of critical tweets at Kelly after he won the Florida GOP primary.
Can’t watch Crazy Megyn anymore. Talks about me at 43% but never mentions that there are four people in race. With two people, big & over!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 16, 2016
Some of Kelly’s colleagues, including Bret Baier, appear to be tiring of Trump’s ongoing obsession:
Enough. @megynkelly is not crazy-she’s not sick. We’ll continue to cover this race fairly. https://t.co/8eKaVTLhd0 https://t.co/hiVJtV0zQN
— Bret Baier (@BretBaier) March 18, 2016
