Arts & Entertainment
Geraldo Rivera Apologizes To Midler For ‘Embarrassing Her’
Geraldo Rivera's apology comes after Bette Midler tweeted an old interview in which she accuses him of groping her.
NEW YORK, NY — Fox News reporter Geraldo Rivera apologized for “embarrassing” actress Bette Midler on Friday, a day after she resurfaced an interview in which she accuses Rivera of drugging and groping her.
“Although I recall the time @BetteMidler has alluded to much differently than she, that does not change the fact that she has a right to speak out & demand an apology from me, for in the very least, publically embarrassing her all those years ago. Bette, I apologize,” Rivera wrote in a tweet Friday morning.
On Thursday, Midler tweeted a video clip from a 1991 interview she did with talk show host Barbara Walters.
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"Tomorrow is my birthday. I feel like this video was a gift from the universe to me," Midler tweeted. "Geraldo may have apologized for his tweets supporting Matt Lauer, but he has yet to apologize for this. #MeToo."
In the interview clip, Midler told Walters that Rivera and his producer shoved her into a bathroom, put an inhalant drug called “poppers” under her nose and “groped” her.
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“I did not offer myself up on the altar of Geraldo Rivera. He was ... he was unseemly,” Midler said about the ordeal.
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
Midler was responding to a question from Walters about Rivera’s autobiography, “Exposing Myself,” in which he described a "torrid sexual affair" with Midler.
On Twitter Friday, Rivera also apologized for the tone and content in the book, writing: “27 years ago I wrote a tawdry book depicting consensual events in 1973-45 years ago-I’ve deeply regretted its distasteful & disrespectful tone & have refrained from speaking about it-I’m embarrassed & profoundly sorry to those mentioned-I have & again apologize to anyone offended.”
Midler has yet to respond.
Photo Credit: Richard Shotwell, left, and Rich Fury/Invision/AP, File
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