Bette Midler recalled a time back in the day when Geraldo Rivera was very inappropriate with her in her very own home. Geraldo has issued an apology (if that’s what it can be called) on social media for his behavior during that time. His apology kind of hints that his recollection of the situation is a bit different than what Midler has made reference to in an interview from 1991 she posted on social media. (click here to see the interview)
Read more as reported by Billboard:
Fox News personality Geraldo Rivera apologized to Bette Midler via Twitter on Friday (Dec. 1) over an incident that took place in the 1970s where the singer says he groped her at her own house.
After Rivera defended the beleaguered Matt Lauer on social media and then took back the remarks, on Thursday Midler shared a video from a 1991 interview with Barbara Walters where she recalled her disturbing encounter with Rivera.
“Geraldo may have apologized for his tweets supporting Matt Lauer, but he has yet to apologize for this,” Midler posted with the clip. In the video, she detailed an incident where Rivera and his producer pushed her into her bathroom, broke two of the recreational drug poppers and pushed them under her nose and, she said, “proceeded to grope me.”
In two tweets Rivera also said that he regrets the “distasteful” and “disrespectful” tone of his 1991 memoir, Exposing Myself, wherein he describes the encounter: “We were in the bathroom, preparing for the interview, and at some point, I put my hands on her breasts.”
“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,” Rivera tweeted.
Rivera continued to tweet that while he remembers the encounter with Midler “much differently … 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 [sic] embarrassing her all those years ago.”
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
— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) December 1, 2017
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.
— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) December 1, 2017
Source: Billboard