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Geraldo Rivera, a longstanding liberal personality, hinted Thursday to a last farewell in a video he shared to Twitter, a week after initially declaring that he would no longer co-host the Fox News program “The Five.”
On Friday “Fox & Friends” played a montage of Rivera’s greatest moments and a host of Fox News personalities spoke about the longtime media personality and what he meant to them.
“I feel emotional and deeply moved. I will always remember this morning. It is something that I didn’t expect. This celebration is beyond anything we’ve ever done,” he said after the montage played. “Thank you. I am deeply – I am honored. I love Fox and the people at Fox. I always will. I will never let anyone separate us. I am beyond grateful, I love you for it.”
Fox News confirmed to Mediaite that Friday will be Rivera’s final appearance on the network after 23 years.
“We reached an amicable conclusion with Geraldo over the past few weeks and look forward to celebrating him tomorrow on Fox & Friends which will be his last appearance on the network,” a Fox News spokesperson told Mediaite.
WATCH:
Rivera had announced earlier on Thursday that Friday’s Fox & Friends “could be my last appearance on the network.”
“Bumpy day on the North Atlantic. Anyway, I got fired from @TheFive so I quit Fox. After 23 years tomorrow Fox and Friends could be my last appearance on the network. Thanks for the memories. It doesn’t look like I’m going to be on ‘The Five,’” Rivera said in the video. “I mean I’m not going to be on ‘The Five.’ I’ve been fired from ‘The Five’ and as a result of that I quit Fox.”
Earlier this week, Rivera took to Twitter and announced that he is leaving the hit Fox News show “The Five.”
“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,” Rivera tweeted.
Bumpy day on the North Atlantic. Anyway, I got fired from @TheFive so I quit Fox. After 23 years tomorrow Fox and Friends could be my last appearance on the network. Thanks for the memories. pic.twitter.com/74Qgalz8sF
— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) June 29, 2023
Fox News cable news ratings have collapsed in the key 25-54 age demographic after the network took top-rated host Tucker Carlson off the air in late April.
Things have gotten so bad at the network that longtime host Sean Hannity has fallen behind MSNBC’s Joy Reid in the key demo.
Liberal reporter Glenn Greenwald tweeted: “The 8 pm slot on Fox with Tucker was not only consistently number 1 in the key demo – 25-54 – but routinely had 400,000 viewers or more. Without Tucker, it’s crashed to worse-than-MSNBC levels: barely 100,000 people. Hannity is in 14th place, behind Joy Reid! A total collapse. It’s so clear Fox’s firing of Tucker was not just financially driven, bereft of the Murdochs’ and Paul Ryan’s ideological goals. Firing Tucker destroyed its prime-time ratings. There’s no argument Tucker’s twice-a-week Twitter postings compete with Fox. They want him silenced.”
Hannity’s primetime show has been feeling the heat since Carlson was abruptly ousted.
Hannity’s show, which got up to nearly 2 million in the final weeks of May, has fallen to around a 1.7 million average in June so far. For comparison, Hannity’s primetime show averaged around 3 million each night before Carlson’s departure.
“Fox News and MSNBC have been neck and neck in the cable news ratings in recent days and Wednesday was no different as Fox News and MSNBC tied in the total day demo. Fox beat MSNBC in total viewers in both the total day and primetime averages but lost the prime-time demo to MSNBC,” Mediaite reported. “Fox’s The Five remained the top-rated show on cable news with 2.68 million total viewers, helping to boost Fox’s average.”
“MSNBC and Fox both scored 156,000 total day demo viewers, while CNN was third with 111,000. In total day viewers, Fox won with 1.39 million viewers to MSNBC’s 1.2 million — CNN had 557,000. In prime time, Fox just beat MSNBC with 1.79 million total viewers to 1.76 million, and CNN was in third with 706,000. MSNBC won the prime-time demo with 216,000 viewers over Fox’s 166,000. CNN was third with 140,000 demo viewers,” the outlet added.
