Yesterday, Fox News personality Geraldo Rivera announced he was leaving the network’s popular The Five program after his final two appearances next week.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Rivera revealed that behind-the-scenes issues are the main catalyst for his departure.
“There has been a growing tension that goes beyond editorial differences and personal annoyances and gripes,” he said. “It’s not worth it to me.”
In his announcement, Rivera wrote, “Being odd man out isn’t always easy.” He alluded to a similar sentiment in his discussion with the AP, saying the role he was playing, unofficially serving as a rotating panelist in the program’s “liberal” seat, took its toll.
“I’m 80 years old,” he said. “I don’t want the friction. The Five is too intimate a place and it gets too personal.”
His departure from the program comes weeks after he claimed some of his time on the show was canceled after a public clash with Greg Gutfeld. After Tucker Carlson was fired by Fox News, Rivera called the departed host’s encapsulation of the January 6th Insurrection “bullshit”.
In response, Gutfeld called Rivera “a real class act” and a “man of the people”.
