| June 30, 2023 |
Geraldo Rivera will be 80 years old on July 4, which is very hard to believe. I've known the Long Island icon for four of his eight decades. We were rivals, colleagues and presently teammates in raising money to help autistic Americans.
As Dennis Miller might say 'Geraldo is a different kind of cat.' Driven, energetic, determined to stick up for the underdog. Geraldo and I had one of the most intense debates in cable news history over illegal alien criminals. You should Google it.
Now, Geraldo is leaving Fox News where he toiled for 23 years. If you follow the TV News industry, you know profound changes are taking place. The golden age is over for both broadcast and cable. Things will never again be what they were.
I was incredibly fortunate to know the titans: Mike Wallace, Peter Jennings, Barbara Walters, Ted Koppel, Howard Cosell, Frank Gifford, Tom Snyder, David Letterman, Jay Leno, Brit Hume, Charles Krauthammer and, yes, Geraldo.
Because of woke and cancel culture as well as greedy, incompetent news managers, super star talent is disappearing. To dominate, you have to take risks. Not happening anymore. Too much danger. Better to play it safe.
So, sorry to see Rivera go. Just about last legacy man standing. As Bob Hope once sang, "thanks for the memories."
New column Sunday noon. |
| Posted by Bill O'Reilly at 7:42 AM |
| Share this entry |
| Discuss This Entry |
|
 |
|
|