Roger Ailes loved Geraldo Rivera. He respected his honesty, his showmanship, and contacts. He didn’t care if Geraldo was not a hard core conservative. He helped make Fox News fair and balanced.
I knew Roger, and he’d be horrified to hear that Geraldo has been shoved off his show, “The Five.” Rivera has a year and a half left at Fox News, and my guess is he’ll be paid out and eased off the network now. It’s not the old Fox News. Whatever that was.
It was Ailes who produced Geraldo at America’s Talking, the original CNBC, and then brought him to Fox. Geraldo walked a tightwire at Fox, trying to seem conservative, often taking odd positions. He was once friendly with Donald Trump and supported him. But Rivera is no dummy. Trump can’t be defended anymore.
Back in early May, Geraldo announced that his appearances on The Five had been cancelled. He wrote: “My appearances today and tomorrow on The Five have been canceled. I’m sure there’s a good reason. Never fear, I’ll be back week after next. Stay safe and happy. Thanks.”
He’s been locked in a tug of war with Fox News class clown Greg Gutfeld. who runs The Five and has a hit late night show. Gutfeld is a joke, but like Jesse Watters he’s the new power at Fox. Geraldo, 80, is the old guard. Rivera has fought in recent times with Sean Hannity and disagreed on the air with many crazy things that have been said on the network. He told the AP today that he’d been suspended many times.
On Wednesday, Geraldo announced to his Twitter feed that his time at The Five was over and he would continue at Fox in some capacity. He wrote:
“Morning, it’s official, I’m off @TheFive. My last scheduled show appearances are Thursday and Friday June 29th and 30th. It’s been a great run and I appreciate having had the opportunity. Being odd man out isn’t always easy. For the time being, I’m still Correspondent at Large.”
“It has been a rocky ride but it has also been an exhilarating adventure that spanned quite a few years,” he said in an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday. “I hope it’s not my last adventure.”
It probably won’t. Geraldo’s in great shape for 80 and can still do a lot. But it seems like his time at Fox, trying to be the level headed one, is over.
