U.S. President Donald Trump ratcheted up his feud with the media on Saturday, announcing he will skip the annual correspondents' dinner one day after a row erupted over White House press access.
The last time a president missed the event was in 1981, when Ronald Reagan was recovering after being shot in an assassination attempt. Reagan however phoned in with friendly remarks.
Before that Richard Nixon, who despised the media, skipped the event in 1972.
Over the years the dinner organized by the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) has evolved, or devolved, depending on one's point of view, into the self-described "Nerd Prom" packed with Hollywood celebrities.
"I will not be attending the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner this year. Please wish everyone well and have a great evening!" Trump Tweeted.
The WHCA said it will proceed with this year's dinner, set for April 29, despite the fact.
The event "has been and will continue to be a celebration of the First Amendment [on freedom of the press] and the important role played by an independent news media in a healthy republic," WHCA president Jeff Mason tweeted.
Trump's cancelation comes one day after the White House denied access to an off-camera briefing to several major U.S. media outlets, including CNN and The New York Times; smaller outlets however were allowed to attend the briefing by spokesman Sean Spicer.
Speaking on Friday at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference gathering of conservative activists and politicians, Trump slammed the mainstream media as "the enemy of the people," and labeled the fourth estate "fake news."
All this came after President Trump held a solo press conference in the White House last week, which was characterized by yet more agitation regarding "fake news" and "The Failing New York Times."
In his first rally as president, held in Florida with a crowd of over 10,000 people, he talked policy and what his administration had achieved up until that point and also went after "fake news" again, quoting Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States.
"Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper," he said.
On Feb. 25, Trump Tweeted, "FAKE NEWS media knowingly doesn't tell the truth. A great danger to our country. The failing @nytimes has become a joke. Likewise @CNN. Sad!"
Trump's chief strategist Steve Bannon, a former head of Breitbart news site, predicted earlier at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) that relations with the media would only get worse as the president rolls out his agenda.
The White House Correspondents Association said it was "protesting strongly" against the decision, and would bring it up with the administration, while several of the media affected have pushed back hard against the administration's move.
