Geraldo Rivera Apologizes To Bette Midler

Geraldo Rivera

Geraldo Rivera is once again apologizing for something he’s written. This time it’s his 1991 memoir, “Exposing Myself.”

According to The LATimes, he’s also sorry about what happened with Bette Midler back in the ’70s — or “in the very least” for embarrassing her by mentioning what happened in his book —  though he still doesn’t 100% agree with her version of what happened.

Rivera had tweeted his support for Matt Lauer on Wednesday in the wake of the “Today” host's firing over allegations of sexual misconduct. At the same time, he called journalism a “flirty” business and said the current wave of accusations might be “criminalizing courtship & conflating it [with] predation.” Then he apologized, saying he “didn’t sufficiently explain” that he also thought sexual harassment was a “horrendous problem."

On Friday morning, the Fox News correspondent tweeted:

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

The memoir — which the Daily Beast described Thursday as a “horndog’s bible of workplace harassment” — came back on the radar on the same day Midler revived a 1991 Barbara Walters interview clip in which the singer talked about what had happened between her and Rivera, as compared to what he had written.

At that time, he was four years into the 11-year run of daytime talk show “Geraldo” (and three years off the cover of Playgirl), and Barbara Walters was sitting down with Bette Midler for an interview.

During an interview in the ’70s, Midler said, Rivera and his producer left their crew in another room, “pushed me into my bathroom, they broke two poppers and put them under my nose, and proceeded to grope me. ... I did not offer myself up on the altar of Geraldo Rivera. He was unseemly. His behavior was unseemly."

Midler tweeted Thursday, “Geraldo may have apologized for his tweets supporting Matt Lauer, but he has yet to apologize for this.”

That’s what he addressed Friday, saying, “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 [sic] embarrassing her all those years ago. Bette, I apologize.”