[Twitter, 11/29/17]

Rivera previously defended disgraced former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly against numerous sexual harassment allegations by using the same “news is a flirty business” line.

‘The news is a flirty business,’ Rivera said during an appearance on WOR’s “‘Len Berman and Todd Schnitt in the Morning.” [The New York Times, 4/1/17 ; iHeartRadio, 4/7/17 ]

Geraldo Rivera is defending Fox News host Bill O’Reilly and predicts he’ll keep his job amid reports that a group of women were paid $13 million to settle sexual harassment allegations.

Rivera also responded to allegations against Fox Business host Charles Payne in the same manner.

Sex harassment is bad & perps do so at their peril. But news is a flirty biz. Look at all newsroom relationships that have ended in marriage

[The New York Times, 7/6/17; Twitter, 7/7/17, 7/7/17]

Rivera welcomed Payne back to the network after that latter’s temporary suspension by tweeting that Payne was “victimized by a bogus charge motivated by [money],” adding that it was a “witchhunt.”

My #FOXNews friends & I welcome back our colleague Charles Payne victimized by a bogus charge motivated by $. Hopefully this ends witchhunt

[The New York Times, 9/18/17; Twitter, 9/19/17]

Rivera suggested Dennis Hastert, who was convicted of crimes related to the cover-up of child molestation, “wasn’t [the] perp-He was [the] victim.” (Hastert later admitted “he sexually abused several boys” during the 1960s and 1970s.)

Sounds like fmr House Speaker Hastert wasnt perp-He was victim of Blackmail& Extortion. He lied re being shaken down to avoid embarrassment. — Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) May 29, 2015

[The Washington Post, 5/29/15; Chicago Tribune, 4/28/16; Twitter, 5/29/15]

Rivera smeared some of the women who reported their own stories of abuse at the hands of Harvey Weinstein as lacking “courage.”

GERALDO RIVERA: All I'm going to say is that the demonstrators came to Fox because they hated what was going on here. There will be no demonstrators in front of NBC. And The New Yorker, which is being applauded for running the Ronan Farrow piece, The New Yorker only ran that after The New York Times had already killed Weinstein. And all of the so-called courage of the people coming forward now? It takes no courage once the perpetrator is dead. [Media Matters, 10/12/17]

When asked by a co-host if he was making excuses for harassment claims involving senior citizens, Rivera responded “Well, maybe I was speaking, you know, as a senior citizen myself.”

During a panel discussion on the sexual harassment allegations popping up on both sides of the political aisle, Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle couldn’t help but call out Geraldo Rivera on his own excusal of sexual misconduct. Rivera mentioned the allegations facing Sen. Al Franken (D-MN), that he grabbed the buttocks of a woman while taking a photo of her. “What about the allegation that’s gaining quite a bit of legitimacy and currency that George H.W. Bush — Bush 41 — from his wheelchair, tells a joke when women stand along side him, ‘Who’s your favorite comedian? Mine is David Cop-a-feel,'” Rivera recalled. “You know, and he pats the ladies on the butt. I mean, if it’s outrageous for Franken it’s outrageous for George H.W. Bush and you talk about senior citizens, he’s, uh, what, 93-years-old.” Guilfoyle quickly cut in wondering then why Rivera was making excuses for the elder Bush. “You were the one who was making some kind of exception for those that are elderly or infirm, that after a certain age they get some kind of ‘get out of sexual harassment jail free’ card,” she said. Rivera laughed uncomfortably. “Well, maybe I was speaking, you know, as a senior citizen myself,” he replied. [RawStory, 11/24/17]

Rivera dismissed former Fox News host Andrea Tantaros’ accusations of sexual harassment against Roger Ailes as a “vindictive screed designed to damage reputations.”

Lawsuit you reference is not sincere legal document. It is a vindictive screed designed to damage reputations & hurt feelings — Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) August 23, 2016