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Gerald Michael Rivera (born July 4, 1943), known to TV audiences as Geraldo Rivera or simply Geraldo, is an American television journalist and former talk show host. He is known to have an affinity for dramatic, high-profile stories, and a style that is often described as sensationalistic. He is also known for his extreme use of enthusiasm and excitement.

He currently hosts his own syndicated newsmagazine program Geraldo At Large, and appears regularly on Fox News Channel.

Early life

Geraldo Rivera was born in New York City to a Puerto Rican father and a Jewish-American mother and was raised in West Babylon, Long Island, New York. He graduated in 1961 from West Babylon High School. His birth certificate records him as “Gerald Michael Riviera”, born to Allen and Lillian (Friedman) Rivera. In his autobiography Exposing Myself, Rivera said that he believed his mother was attempting to deflect future discrimination from her children by misspelling their surname on their birth certificates, as they were the products of a mixed marriage.

He is an alumnus of the University of Arizona where he played lacrosse at midfield (and called himself Jerry Rivers). He then graduated from Brooklyn Law School in 1969, and later attended Columbia University. He was a lawyer for a New York Puerto Rican group, the Young Lords, and attracted the attention of a news producer when he was interviewed about the group's occupation of a Harlem church in 1970.

Career and controversy

Early stages

Rivera was hired by New York City station WABC-TV to be a reporter for Eyewitness News. In 1972 he garnered national attention and won an Emmy Award for his report on the neglect and abuse of mentally retarded patients at Staten Island's Willowbrook State School, and began to appear on ABC national programs such as 20/20. After John Lennon watched Geraldo's report on the mentally retarded patients at Willowbrook State School, John Lennon and Geraldo formed a benefit concert called "One to One" (released in 1986 as "Live in New York City").

Around this time Rivera also began hosting ABC's answer to NBC's "Midnight Special", the Saturday night musical program, "Goodnight America" which featured rock acts of the day. Rivera's laid back, hip style fit nicely with the feel of the era and featured the famous refrain from Arlo Guthrie's song "City Of New Orleans" as the theme song ("Goodnight America, I love you"). The song would also serve as the later inspirtation for the network's hugely successful morning show, Good Morning America".

In 1985 ABC's Roone Arledge refused to air a report done by Rivera on the relationship between Marilyn Monroe and John F. Kennedy. Rivera publicly criticized Arledge's journalistic integrity (claiming that his friendship with the Kennedy family had caused him to spike the story) and was fired.

Rivera's longtime friend Cheech Marin parodied him as "Horrendo Revolver" on Cheech & Chong's Wedding Album.

Rivera used the pseudonym Gerald Ively during a brief stint in Berlin, post-Cold War.

Al Capone's vault

In 1986 he hosted a live two-hour special on the opening of what he called The Mystery of Al Capone's Vault. However, it is more noted for its disappointing denouement: the contents revealed turned out to be a pile of dirt and a bottle of bathtub gin."Mystery of Capone Vault Ends—Temporarily", Associated Press, April 21, 1986 The program garnered the highest rating of any syndicated special in television history. Nielsen recorded a 34 average rating and 48 average share in eight markets, and an astounding 57 rating and 73 share in the Chicago market."'Scarface Al' vaults to high Nielsen ratings", Advertising Age, April 28, 1986 A disappointed Geraldo anticipated finding bones, but was never able to use "some lines from 'Hamlet'" which he had rehearsed."Geraldo Arrives and Chicago Gets Windier", Newsweek, May 5, 1986

Talk show and Satanism special

In 1987, Geraldo began producing and hosting the daytime talk show The Geraldo Rivera Show, which ran for eleven years. The show featured controversial guests and theatricality, which led to Newsweek's characterization of his show as "Trash TV". One of the early shows was titled "Men in Lace Panties and the Women Who Love Them". His nose was broken in a well-publicized brawl during a 1988 show, involving racist skinheads, anti-racist skinheads, and black and Jewish activists.

In 1987, he hosted the first of a series of prime time special reports dealing with an alleged epidemic of Satanic ritual abuse. He stated:

Estimates are that there are over one million Satanists in this country ... The majority of them are linked in a highly organized, very secretive network. From small towns to large cities, they have attracted police and FBI attention to their Satanic ritual sexual child abuse, child pornography and grisly Satanic murders. The odds are that this is happening in your town.

Subsequent to the programs, there were outbreaks of Satanic hysteria in various American cities.

He was noted for self-promotion and for inserting himself into stories. He twice had plastic surgery on his program, and his autobiography Exposing Myself caused headlines in 1991 by discussing his sexual dalliances, which included encounters with Bette Midler and Margaret Trudeau. He was the son-in-law of author Kurt Vonnegut while married to Edith Vonnegut.

Return to journalism

In 1994 he began hosting a more sedate nightly discussion of the news on cable station CNBC called Rivera Live while continuing to host Geraldo. The show was portrayed in the final episode of Seinfeld, with Rivera as himself reporting on the lengthy trial of the show's four main characters.

Geraldo was cancelled in 1998 after eleven years on the air.

In 1997 Rivera contracted with NBC to work as a reporter for 6 years for a fee of $30 million. During 1998 and 1999, he extensively covered the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. Following the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack, he accepted a pay cut and went to work for the Fox News Channel as a war correspondent starting in November 2001. His brother Craig accompanied him as a cameraman on assignments in Afghanistan.

War coverage controversies

During the U.S. war in Afghanistan in 2001, Rivera was derided for a report in which he claimed to be at the scene of a friendly fire incident; it was later revealed that he was actually 300 miles away. Rivera faulted a minor misunderstanding for the discrepancy.

Another controversy arose in early 2003, while Rivera was embedded with U.S. military personnel in Iraq. During a Fox News broadcast, Rivera began to disclose an upcoming operation, even going so far as to draw a map in the sand for his audience. The military immediately issued a firm denouncement of his actions, saying it put the operation at risk, and nearly expelled Rivera from Iraq. Two days later, he announced that henceforth and voluntarily he would be reporting on the Iraq conflict from Kuwait."Confusion surrounds Rivera's expulsion from Iraq", CNN, April 1, 2003

The "map in the sand" incident inspired a 14th season episode of NBC's legal drama Law & Order, entitled "Embedded".

A third controversy arose when he announced that he was carrying a weapon while reporting in Afganistan. He said, "If they're going to get us, it's going to be in a gun fight. It's not going to be a murder. It's not going to be a crime. It's going to be a gun fight." The controversy came on two fronts. Many were offended by the very fact that as a reporter he was carrying a weapon. The other aspect of the controversy, however, was due to the fact that he had often promoted civilian gun control previous to his time reporting in Afganistan, such as when (after the Columbine High School massacre tragedy in Littleton, CO) Rivera asked, "How much longer are we gonna take [Charlton Heston defending the second amendment]? How much longer are we gonna be wrapping in the flag of patriotism to justify 250 million guns out there? How much longer?" As an NRA magazine article pointed out, "Rivera, who has made plenty of noise in the past by promoting various anti-gun proposals, revealed recently that while covering the war in Afghanistan, where he doesn't feel quite so safe, he's conveniently jumped to the other side of the fence.""NRA Targets Geraldo Rivera", AIM, March 5, 2002

Michael Jackson trial

During the 2005 trial of Michael Jackson, Geraldo Rivera held an exclusive and in-depth interview with the pop star from the famed Neverland Ranch. Following this, he went on Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, telling the audience he was convinced that Jackson was innocent and would be found not guilty. He even vowed to promptly shave his trademark moustache in the event of a guilty verdict.

After a full acquittal on all child molestation charges, Geraldo rejoiced on Access Hollywood, boasting that his acquittal prediction had come true and his moustache had been accordingly spared. The reaction became a subject of ridicule for many late-night talk-show hosts.

Recent activity

Rivera's last regular series on Fox News Channel was At Large with Geraldo Rivera, shown on Saturday and Sunday nights. He ended the program on October 9, 2005 in order to begin a new weekday syndicated show, Geraldo at Large. The new series features many Fox News Channel correspondents, including Laurie Dhue and Phil Keating, and Rivera frequently appears on Fox News to promote his latest stories.

On one recent Fox appearance, he criticized Comedy Central program hosts Jon Stewart (of The Daily Show) and Stephen Colbert (of The Colbert Report), saying that despite their current success they ultimately "count for nothing". In addition, Rivera insinuated that the pair's respective shows pander to the lowest common denominator, specifically stating that they "play clips of old ladies slipping on ice and people laughing", something which has never appeared on either show.

The attack on Comedy Central may have been in response to Stewart mocking his coverage of hurricanes. Stewart set up the joke by showing the famous clip of Anderson Cooper dodging a metal sign that blew down during Hurricane Dennis. Stewart then showed Geraldo standing outside during the hurricane and asked "Where's flying aluminum debris when you need it?" Another possibility for his comments could have been the Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert mocking of the "map in the sand incident" on the April 1, 2003 edition of The Daily Show, in which Colbert (in character as an exaggerated Rivera-esque reporter) drew, in sand, how Geraldo's head had moved down his torso and "up his ass".

After the criticism of Stewart and Colbert, Geraldo was promptly lambasted, in satirical fashion, on several episodes of the two programs thereafter.

Quote from The O'Reilly Factor, October 2006, after the host accused Geraldo to be a secular progressive: "What? Secular progressive? I'm a radical! (laughs)"

Marriages

• Erica Levy (10 August 2003— ) 1 child, a daughter born in August 2005
• C.C. Dyer (11 July 1987 – 2000) (divorced) 2 children
• Sherryl Raymond (31 December 1976 – 1984) (divorced) 1 child
• Edith Vonnegut (14 December 1971 – 1975) (divorced)
• Linda Coblentz (1965 – 1969) (divorced)

References

External links

• Official website
• "Geraldo Rivera Official Statement Regarding Embedment Controversy", 4 April 2003 - Rivera tells the story of his Iraq "Map in the Sand" (archive)
• "Pentagon Says Geraldo Rivera Will Be Removed From Iraq" - The New York Times, April 1, 2003
• Geraldo Rivera's Influence on the Satanic Ritual Abuse and Recovered Memory Hoaxes - from religioustolerance.org
• Urban Legend about Geraldo Rivera's name being changed from Jerry Rivers - from snopes.com
• Citations of Geraldo as a libertarian

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