Geraldo Rivera is again revisiting the conflicts that surrounded his departure from Fox News, this time claiming that some people inside the network privately encouraged him after he publicly criticized Tucker Carlson’s coverage of Jan. 6.
In an interview with Mediaite’s Diana Falzone, Rivera said he received “calls from within Fox” after objecting to Carlson’s framing of the Capitol riot and related conspiracy claims.
“Right on,” Rivera recalled callers telling him, according to Mediaite. “We’re shocked, we’re outraged by what Tucker is trying to do. Thank you for speaking out, you know from people that could not speak out.”
Rivera describes a break over Jan. 6
Rivera, who left Fox News in June, said his strongest objection involved Carlson’s commentary about Jan. 6, 2021. He told Mediaite he was “shocked and outraged” and “nauseous” over what he described as Carlson floating the idea that the riot was an “inside job.”
Rivera said he believed Carlson was suggesting that government agents or provocateurs played a central role in the events and that former President Donald Trump did not incite a legitimate riot. Rivera called that idea “preposterous” and said he had described it as “bulls***” in interviews with major newspapers.
The claim that Fox colleagues privately supported Rivera has not been independently verified in the supplied material. Rivera did not name the people who allegedly called him.
Questions about his Fox exit
Falzone also asked Rivera about reports of tension between him and Greg Gutfeld, his former co-panelist on “The Five.” Rivera declined to focus on “any particular person,” but he acknowledged on-air and behind-the-scenes friction.
Rivera said there were “two incidents,” including one involving abortion rights, and said he felt the network “always took his side,” referring to the unnamed colleague in that portion of the interview. He characterized Fox’s decision-making around his exit as “a very pragmatic decision, a business decision.”
The source material cites prior reporting from Radar Online alleging that Rivera and Gutfeld “do not get along” and that their tension spilled off-camera. Those claims are attributed to an unnamed source in that report.
A dispute still shaped by unnamed claims
Rivera’s latest comments add another layer to the public fallout after his Fox News departure, but much of the account rests on his own description and unnamed sources.
What is clear from the Mediaite interview is that Rivera continues to frame his conflict at Fox around two issues: his opposition to Carlson’s Jan. 6 coverage and his strained relationship with at least one colleague on “The Five.”
