Geraldo Rivera has called Fox News his home since leaving CNBC in 2001 to join as the cable outlet’s ostensible war correspondent. He appears to have a lost a recent battle.
After being ousted from a rotation on “The Five,” Rivera said in a video post on Twitter Thursday, he is leaving Fox News. “I’ve been fired from ‘The Five,’ and as a result, I quit Fox,” the veteran TV personality said, while riding a boat. He said he might appear on “Fox & Friends” Friday to offer more comment, but would not be appearing on “The Five” one last time, as he had previously indicated he would.
Fox News was unable to offer immediate comment.
Fox News has laid off a small number of staffers as it has consolidated some of its weekend programs and made tweaks at Fox Business Network. Under the terms of his most recent contract, Rivera has also hosted the “Cops: All Access” series that appears on the Fox Nation streaming service.
Rivera was made an official member of “The Five” in January of last year, along with Jessica Tarlov and Harold Ford Jr. — all part of a rotation of left-leaning panelists — as well as Jeanine Pirro. Although the program features four conservative panelists and a single left-leaning one, it’s viewed as a sort of “dinner-table” discussion show that airs a range of opinions, and Fox News has used it as a template for other efforts, including “Gutfeld,” “Outnumbered” and “The Big Weekend Show.”
In recent months, however, Rivera’s appearances have seemed more combative, and he appeared to clash with Greg Gutfeld, one of the “Five” regulars and, soon, one of Fox News’ new set of primetime opinion hosts. While Fox News executives have routinely allowed firebrand antics on air, they have tried to tamp down conflict on “The Five.” Juan Williams, a previous liberal panelist, left in May of 2021 after getting into a few segments that seemed overly argumentative, exacerbated by remote production requirements during the recent coronavirus pandemic. Williams, a former NPR commentator, cited a desire to stay near his family in Washington DC and not return to New York studio production following the end of separation mandated by the contagion.
Rivera has enjoyed a long career in broadcasting, generating controversy even as he teased TV crowds. Over the years, he has hosted a talk show for CNBC and worked for ABC News. He once got his nose broken while hosting a syndicated talk program that brought white supremacists and Black and Jewish activists on at the same time. He once claimed to be on site during the war in Afghanistan when he was actually hundreds of miles away. And he hosted a live special in 1986 that purported to show viewers what was contained in gangster Al Capone’s vaults, only to reveal that they were largely empty.