Trump fans chant ‘Fox News sucks’ outside Arizona count as anchor replies to angry tweets

Anchor tweets ‘can we still just be friends?’ as viewer says she is ‘breaking up with Fox’

Donald Trump supporters chanted “Fox News sucks” outside an election centre in Arizona overnight, furious at the channel for projecting Joe Biden as the winner in the state.

As the race to the White House edged closer to the finish line, Fox News declared Arizona for the Democrats, adding 11 electoral votes to Mr Biden’s growing tally.

According to Associated Press,  over 85 per cent of votes have been counted in the state and Mr Biden is leading by about 2.8 per cent points.

However, the Fox News projection didn’t go down well with local viewers, including some outside the Maricopa County elections department, nor with the president’s re-election officials. Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien remarked that "if all legally-cast ballots are counted, the president will win."  

Fox News’ chief political anchor Bret Baier, who was on-air when the prediction was made, received angry messages on social media.  While replying to a tweet that said “I’m done with Fox and I lost respect for you Brett”, the anchor wrote: “Sorry to lose your respect. I appreciate you telling me. Have a good night. Good luck with your viewing   Hope you come back.”

While Mr Baier quipped, “can we still just be friends?” in response to a tweet that said, “Breaking up with Fox. It was a good ride!”

“Ok sorry you didn’t like it. Thanks for watching while you have,” said the anchor when someone called election coverage of Fox News “horrible”.

After Trump claimed victory early on Wednesday, Fox News anchor Chris Wallace said: "This is an extremely flammable situation and the just president threw a match into it.”