Geraldo Rivera said he’ll no longer appear on popular Fox News program “The Five,” but that he’s still a network correspondent for now.
“It’s official, I’m off ‘The Five,’” he tweeted Wednesday morning. “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.”
The news comes two weeks before Rivera, who’s been relaxing in Hampton’s Bay according to his Twitter feed, celebrates his 80th birthday.
Rivera often offered a moderate voice to the nearly 12-year-old afternoon program hosted by Jeanine Pirro, Dana Perino, Greg Gutfeld and Jesse Watters. Rivera tweeted early last month that a couple of his planned appearances on “The Five” had been canceled and assumed there was “a good reason.”
That scheduling change came a week after Rivera criticized disgraced Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who was taken off the air in late April after a defamation suit brought against the network uncovered racist and otherwise offensive text messages sent by Carlson. Fox News paid a record $787.5 million to stop that lawsuit from going to trial.
“I don’t wish ill on anybody, but there is no doubt — as I said at the time — Tucker Carlson’s perverse January 6 conspiracy theory was ‘bulls–t,’” Rivera wrote on Twitter.
Carlson famously promotes dubious narratives undermining the attack on the U.S. Capitol and suggesting that shadowy government conspiracies target his radical right-wing audience.
Fox News watchers loyal to Carlson, who occupied the network’s 8 p.m. primetime slot, attacked Rivera and the network online in response to his criticism.
“Fox gets rid of Tucker and keeps you,” tweeted one unhappy viewer. “That’s all I needed to hear.”
Rivera was also known to clash with conservative commentator Dan Bongino, whom he called a “son of a bitch” during an April debate on primetime program “Hannity.” On that same program a few weeks later, Rivera dismissed Bongino as a “punk.”
Fox News hasn’t responded to a request for comment. As of Wednesday afternoon, the outlet’s website still listed Rivera as “a rotating co-host” on “The Five.” He joined the network as a war correspondent in 2001.