Bette Midler Alleges Geraldo Rivera Groped Her in the '70s and 'Has Yet to Apologize'
Bette Midler joined the #MeToo campaign on Thursday when the singer tweeted a video interview with Barbara Walters, in which she accused talk show host Geraldo Rivera of groping her in 1970s. In the tweet, Midler says Rivera “has yet to apologize.”
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
— Bette Midler (@BetteMidler) November 30, 2017
In the 1991 interview, Midler recounts what she calls Rivera’s “unseemly behavior,” accusing him and his producer of pushing her into a bathroom. There, they allegedly broke two vials of amyl nitrate, pushed them under her nose, and groped her. “I did not offer myself up on the alter of Geraldo Rivera,” she tells Walters. “l’ll tell you the truth if I had known he was going so, twenty years later he was going to wind up a slimy talk show host, I never would have even let him in the room.”
Midler posted the video amid recent sexual harassment allegations against the TODAY show host, Matt Lauer, who Rivera defended. Lauer was fired on Wednesday by NBC on Wednesday. Rivera tweeted that the news was “sad,” calling Lauer a “great guy” and claiming that “news is a flirty business.”
Sad about @MLauer great guy, highly skilled & empathetic w guests & a real gentleman to my family & me. News is a flirty business & it seems like current epidemic of #SexHarassmentAllegations may be criminalizing courtship & conflating it w predation. What about #GarrisonKeillor?
— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) November 29, 2017
Rivera went on to tweet his opinions about the massive wave of sexual harassment claims surfacing in the last few months, People reports.
A jerk's a jerk in dating. #SexHarassment should be confined to situations where superior imposes himself on subordinate who feels unable to complain because of power of perp or feared consequences to victim's employment. Shouldn't be used to get even w bad bosses or hated ex's
— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) November 29, 2017
#SexHarassment allegations should require: 1-made in a timely fashion-say w/n 5 yrs. 2-some contemporaneous corroboration, like witnesses, electronic or written communications. W $ settlements in multi-millions slight chance exists some victims are motivated by more than justice
— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) November 29, 2017
This issue is so red hot right now there is no room for any thought or opinion but hang em high. If News wasn’t (formerly) a flirty biz then how do we explain so many newsroom courtships that have led to happy marriages?
— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) November 29, 2017
Rivera received enormous backlash for the string of tweets, which later apologized for.
Reaction to my tweets today on #sexharassment makes clear
I didn't sufficiently explain that this is a horrendous problem
long hidden-Harassers are deviants who deserve what is coming
to them-Often victims are too frightened to come
forward in a timely fashion-I humbly apologize— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) November 30, 2017
#MeToo is a popular hashtag used online for victims of sexual harassment to speak openly about about their experiences.
[People]