51 Facts About Geraldo Rivera

1.

Geraldo Rivera was born on Gerald Riviera; July 4,1943 and is an American journalist, attorney, author, political commentator, and co-host of The Five on Fox News Channel.

2.

Geraldo Rivera hosted the tabloid talk show Geraldo from 1987 to 1998.

3.

Geraldo Rivera gained publicity with the live 1986 TV special The Mystery of Al Capone's Vaults.

4.

Geraldo Rivera's mother was Jewish, while his father was Catholic.

5.

Geraldo Rivera was raised "mostly Jewish" and had a bar mitzvah ceremony.

6.

Geraldo Rivera grew up in Brooklyn and West Babylon, New York, where he attended West Babylon High School.

7.

Geraldo Rivera's family was sometimes subjected to prejudice and racism, and his mother took to spelling their surname as "Riviera" to avoid having bigotry directed at them.

8.

Geraldo Rivera did the same thing for my sister Irene.

9.

Geraldo Rivera then held a Reginald Heber Smith Fellowship in poverty law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School in the summer of 1969 before being admitted to the New York State Bar later that year.

10.

Geraldo Rivera was hired by WABC-TV in 1970 as a reporter for Eyewitness News.

11.

In July 1973, Geraldo Rivera taped the pilot episode of Good Night America, a late-night newsmagazine that he hosted.

12.

Ramsauer died aged 27, four days later; Geraldo Rivera delivered a eulogy at Ramsauer's Central Park memorial service.

13.

Geraldo Rivera publicly criticized Arledge's journalistic integrity, claiming that his friendship with the Kennedy family had caused him to spike the story; as a result, Geraldo Rivera was fired.

14.

In 1987, Rivera began producing and hosting the daytime talk show Geraldo, which ran for 11 years.

15.

From 1994 to 2001, Geraldo Rivera hosted Geraldo Rivera Live, a CNBC evening news and interview show which aired on weeknights.

16.

In 2009, Geraldo Rivera played himself in the My Name is Earl episodes "Inside Probe".

17.

In 2001, during the War in Afghanistan, Geraldo Rivera was derided for a report in which he claimed to be at the scene of a friendly fire incident; it was later revealed he was actually 300 miles away.

18.

Controversy arose in early 2003, while Geraldo Rivera was traveling with the 101st Airborne Division in Iraq.

19.

The military immediately issued a firm denunciation of his actions, saying it put the operation at risk; Geraldo Rivera was expelled from Iraq.

20.

In 2005, Geraldo Rivera engaged in a feud with The New York Times over their allegations that he pushed aside a member of a rescue team in order to be filmed "assisting" a woman in a wheelchair down some steps in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

21.

Geraldo Rivera further threatened to sue the paper if one was not provided.

22.

The Times later acknowledged that Geraldo Rivera did not push aside the woman.

23.

In 2007, Geraldo Rivera was involved in a dispute with fellow Fox colleague Michelle Malkin.

24.

Malkin announced that she would not return to The O'Reilly Factor, claiming that Fox News had mishandled a dispute over derogatory statements Geraldo Rivera had made about her in a Boston Globe interview.

25.

Geraldo Rivera actually believes that neighbors should start snitching out neighbors, and we should be deporting people.

26.

In 2008, Geraldo Rivera's book, titled HisPanic: Why Americans Fear Hispanics in the US, was released.

27.

On January 30,2012, Geraldo Rivera began hosting a weekday show on KABC in Los Angeles.

28.

On March 23,2012, Geraldo Rivera made comments regarding Trayvon Martin's hoodie and how the hoodie was connected to Martin's shooting death, specifically claiming that Martin would not have been shot if he was not wearing the hoodie, repeating them on subsequent occasions.

29.

Geraldo Rivera apologized for any offense that he caused with the comments.

30.

Geraldo Rivera later apologized to Trayvon Martin's parents as well.

31.

In 2015, Geraldo Rivera competed on the 14th season of the television series The Celebrity Apprentice, where he ultimately placed second to TV personality Leeza Gibbons.

32.

However, Geraldo Rivera still raised the highest amount of money out of any contestant in the season, with $726,000, $12,000 more than Gibbons.

33.

On November 13,2015, Geraldo Rivera revealed on Fox that his daughter, Simone Cruickshank, was at the Stade de France when the attacks and explosions occurred; she and her friends made it out alive and would be returning safely home.

34.

Geraldo Rivera continued to host a weekday talk radio show on WABC until a leadership change at parent company Cumulus Media resulted in his contract not being renewed in November 2015; Geraldo would later sue Cumulus for what he claimed was the reneging of a "handshake agreement" between him, previous chairman Lew Dickey and executive vice president John Dickey.

35.

Geraldo Rivera competed on season 22 of Dancing with the Stars, partnered with professional dancer Edyta Sliwinska.

36.

Geraldo Rivera issued a statement in November 2017 that claimed a different recollection of events than Midler's and apologized for the incident.

37.

On July 22,2020, Geraldo Rivera called President Trump "brave" for wishing Ghislaine Maxwell "well", after a reporter questioned Trump over Maxwell's charges of helping Jeffrey Epstein traffic and abuse children.

38.

Geraldo Rivera called the fact that Maxwell had been denied bail and given solitary confinement an example of "woke politics".

39.

Geraldo Rivera had previously accused the judge who had denied bail to Maxwell of caving to the "mob".

40.

Geraldo Rivera later apologized to Terrell on Twitter, saying he "didn't mean it personally".

41.

On December 14,2021, Rivera called to account texts sent by Fox news anchors, including Sean Hannity to then president Donald J Trump asking for a forceful response to the January 6 attack on the US Capitol Building.

42.

Geraldo Rivera has admitted to having a multi-year affair with Marian Javits, wife of New York Senator Jacob Javits, until 1985.

43.

Geraldo Rivera previously resided in Middletown Township, New Jersey, at Rough Point, an 1895 shingle-style estate.

44.

Geraldo Rivera sailed Voyager 1,400 miles up the Amazon river and around the world, going so far as to meet the King of Tonga on the international dateline in time for the new millennium.

45.

Geraldo Rivera has described himself as Pro-choice, pro Gay Marriage, and pro Immigration reform.

46.

In 2002, Geraldo Rivera described himself as being a Zionist who would die for Israel.

47.

In 2017, Geraldo Rivera criticized Israel for its military attacks on Gaza which killed civilians and babies.

48.

That same year Geraldo Rivera criticized the United States for proving arms to Israel which it used to bomb the Gaza Strip and sided with Democratic congresswoman Rashida Tlaib in opposing the sale.

49.

Geraldo Rivera had previously said he would not vote for Trump because of comments made by the latter regarding Mexicans.

50.

Geraldo Rivera considered running as a Republican in the 2013 United States Senate special election in New Jersey.

51.

Geraldo Rivera considered running in the 2022 United States Senate election in Ohio after incumbent Senator Rob Portman announced he would not seek re-election for his seat in the Senate.