Good-Bye and Good Riddance: Geraldo and 'The Five' Finally Part Ways

“The Five” is one of Fox’s more popular shows, although all of Fox has taken a big hit in the ratings since they parted ways with Tucker Carlson in an astonishingly bad move.

But it looks like there may be one positive move that just happened that will meet with most viewers’ approval — a parting of ways with Geraldo Rivera, who not many viewers liked.

I wrote last month about how Geraldo complained that he had appearances on “The Five” canceled, and it looked like maybe he was next on the chopping block. Things also weren’t going well in his relationship with host Greg Gutfeld on the show, with Gutfeld publicly losing patience with him in the past.

You’re a class act Geraldo. A real man of the people. https://t.co/20LOwVzXwS

— GregGutfeld (@greggutfeld) April 26, 2023

He, on the other hand, called Gutfeld an “arrogant little punk” last year. I’m surprised he’s lasted as long as he has.

Rivera had a penchant for saying things that were not only politically unpopular but just wrong.

Does anybody really believe President Joe Biden was involved in a criminal bribery scheme? Dollars to donuts it's another bogus, blowhard, pretend whistleblower.
Hint: If the person announcing a would-be criminal scheme is a partisan politician, it's a partisan political event.

— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) May 3, 2023

Yes, Geraldo, a lot of people believe it, particularly with everything that has been coming out.

Who can forget when Geraldo claimed that “AR” in AR-15 stood for “assault rifle” and even seemed to be saying it was a machine gun?

Geraldo Rivera just said with a straight face on The Five that the "AR" in AR-15 stands for "Automatic Rifle." pic.twitter.com/9HPkSlfdOT

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) January 17, 2023

Then he got busted a bit after claiming they were “substitute appendages.”

How do you claim to be a journalist and get the facts so wrong?

Geraldo tweeted on Wednesday that now it was “official.”

Morning, it’s official, I’m off @TheFive. My last scheduled show appearances are Thursday and Friday June 29th and 30th. It’s been a great run and I appreciate having had the opportunity. Being odd man out isn’t always easy. For the time being, I’m still Correspondent at Large.

— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) June 21, 2023

“Morning, it’s official, I’m off @TheFive. My last scheduled show appearances are Thursday and Friday, June 29th and 30th. It’s been a great run and I appreciate having had the opportunity. Being odd man out isn’t always easy.”

Rivera said, “For the time being, I’m still Correspondent at Large” at Fox. It doesn’t sound like he thinks that might last, either.

Rivera claimed that he quit, but he said he was not sure of where he was going next.

“It has been a rocky ride but it has also been an exhilarating adventure that spanned quite a few years,” he told the Associated Press on Wednesday. “I hope it’s not my last adventure.” He said he had been suspended multiple times, including that time he talked about having appearances canceled in May. He said that now he’s 80 years old, and the show was “too intimate a place and it gets too personal.”

“There has been a growing tension that goes beyond editorial differences and personal annoyances and gripes,” he said. “It’s not worth it to me.”

At this point, I don’t know what Geraldo brought to the show. He said things that were just embarrassing, like the AR-15 comment. He doesn’t even defend the liberal side particularly well if that was supposed to be his purpose. He just spouts, often without knowing what he’s talking about.

Greg Gutfeld has to be cheering this move since that was clearly a fractious relationship.

This seemed to be a prevailing thought.