Earlier this week, Fox News contributor Geraldo Rivera raised eyebrows by tweeting a defense of NBC’s Matt Lauer that mourned the loss of news room courtships in a “flirty biz” and called for a statute of limitations on sexual harassment allegations. Rivera was quickly and roundly criticized for his bizarrely timed comments.
Luckily for humanity, one reporter already exposed Geraldo Rivera’s untoward behavior (which he called “consensual”) toward women in the 1990s — that would be Geraldo Rivera himself. The Daily Beast summarizes the critical consensus of his 1991 memoir titled, naturally, Exposing Myself, as “the definitive work on how men behave inappropriately in the workplace under the guise of courtship.”
The book is full of salacious stories that could arguably start with “Dear Penthouse, I never thought it could happen to me,” but the one receiving a lot of attention concerns Bette Midler. After Rivera apologized for his Lauer tweets, Midler took to Twitter herself and posted a clip that describes an incident where Rivera and a producer drugged her and groped her in a bathroom.
Tomorrow is my birthday. I feel like this video was a gift from the universe to me. Geraldo may have apologized for his tweets supporting Matt Lauer, but he has yet to apologize for this. #MeToo pic.twitter.com/TkcolFWfA2
— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) November 30, 2017
In Rivera’s memoir, he describes the Midler encounter as consensual.
On Friday, Rivera apologized for writing the “tawdry” memoir, saying he’s “embarrassed” at its content and it’s “disrespectful” tone. He also offered an apology to the women mentioned in the book, including Midler, though he made it clear that he remembers the bathroom story differently.
27 years ago I wrote a tawdry book depicting consensual events in 1973-45 years ago-I’ve deeply regretted its distasteful & disrespectful tone & have refrained from speaking about it-I’m embarrassed & profoundly sorry to those mentioned-I have & again apologize to anyone offended
— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) December 1, 2017
Although I recall the time @BetteMidler has alluded to much differently than she, that does not change the fact that she has a right to speak out & demand an apology from me, for in the very least, publically embarrassing her all those years ago. Bette, I apologize.
— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) December 1, 2017
Fox News Channel has yet to comment on this development.
(Via Associated Press & The Daily Beast)