Longtime host and political commentator Geraldo Rivera announced his official departure from Fox News Thursday afternoon via a Twitter video he recorded on a boat.
“Bumpy day on the North Atlantic.” Anyway, I got fired from @TheFive so I left Fox. After 23 years, Fox and Friends could be my last appearance on the station tomorrow. “Thanks for the memories,” he captioned the video.
The 79-year-old said he was fired from The Five – Fox’s daily political commentary show – and has left the network after more than two decades.
He added that he will have more to say about his departure at Fox & Friends tomorrow morning.
Rivera had not appeared on The Five since April 21, the day Tucker Carlson last aired
Rivera shared the “Liberals” seat with Jessica Tarlov and former Congressman Harold Ford Jr. — giving a voice to opinions relatively unpopular with Fox audiences
News of Rivera’s departure seemed a long time coming, as it was revealed last week that he had been dropped from The Five following a series of disagreements between himself and co-hosts Jesse Watters and Greg Gutfeld.
Rivera, who has been a FOX News staple since 2001, announced his sudden fall on Twitter last week, writing, “It’s official, I’m banned from The Five.” My last scheduled show appearances are Thursday and Friday the 29th. and June 30.
“It was a great run and I really appreciate that I had the opportunity,” he said. “It’s not always easy to be an outsider.”
However, on Thursday he made it clear that he would not be appearing on the afternoon show on June 29 (today) and June 30.
Since January 2022, he has been one of the panel show’s rotating “Liberal” co-hosts, sharing his role with commentator Jessica Tarlov and former US Representative Harold Ford.
The three took turns fighting with their more conservative peers, including Judge Jeanine Pirro, Jesse Watters, Dana Perino and Greg Gutfeld.
Last week he tweeted that his last show appearance would be June 30 – on Thursday he said that was no longer the plan
The last time Rivera appeared on the right-wing station was on April 21 — the same day Tucker Carlson’s last show aired before he was unceremoniously ripped off the air.
Rivera has spent the last few years straying from his once-conservative viewpoints and becoming increasingly hostile to the moderators and moderators of the network he was employed by.
He supported Donald Trump until the January 6 Capitol riot, when his opinion swayed to the left on a number of issues.
Rivera began his career as a local journalist in New York in the early 1970s, but it was his exposure of the appalling conditions at a Staten Island facility that cares for developmentally disabled children and adults that brought him national fame.
He also ran gangster Al Capone’s vault for the special opening in the basement of a Chicago hotel.
The vault was empty, but the spectacle drew a large audience.
From there, he ran his own syndicated show, Geraldo, for almost 11 years and had a nightly talk show on CNBC from 1994 to 2001, when then-boyfriend Roger Ailes brought him to FOX.
In 2021, Rivera signed a new multi-year deal with FOX to serve as a correspondent.
As part of that deal, he was set to host a new show for the FOX Nation streaming service, Cops: All Access, a cops round-up and retrospective.
“My two decades at FOX have been action-packed, covering everything from war to natural disasters to epidemics to urban unrest,” Rivera said in a statement at the time.
“Now, as a correspondent, I’m more focused on reporting and commentating for shows like FOX and Friends and The Five, and it’s been a lot of fun.”
“Nevertheless, I am proud of my colleagues and deeply appreciate their professionalism and continuous support.”
The official end of Rivera’s run at Fox comes days after network CEO Suzanne Scott announced the network’s new primetime lineup, in which Jesse Watters will take over the 8 p.m. mantle vacated by Tucker Carlson.