It’s been awhile since Geraldo Rivera bulldozed into our lives to leave gaping holes in our souls, but all good things come to an end. On Monday morning, the creepo commentator was on Fox and Friends and used the platform to critique the victims of Sunday morning’s massacre at Orlando’s gay nightclub Pulse.
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With his trademark tone-deafness and an unusual lack of empathy, he said:
When you’re in that situation and you have no weapons, you have two choices. If you can’t hide and you can’t run, you have two choices. You stay and die, or you fight. For God’s sakes, fight back. Fight back.”
There’s 100 people that he murdered with one weapon that he reloaded. When he reloaded they must, people must, America must understand, we are at war with Islamic terror, with these terrorists. We’ve got to stop them in Raqqa, we’ve got to stop them in Mosul, and we’ve got to stop them in the Pulse, Orlando.”
Obviously, this inane, exceedingly crass pep talk — aimed at 50 dead people — doesn’t take into account that people caught in a mass calamity of this nature will be in states of shock, prone to freezing and becoming disoriented — particularly if they’re trapped someplace like a movie theater or dark nightclub with pulsating lights and thickets of dry ice.
How about we take this to the next level?
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As Raw Story reports, safety experts strongly recommend doing everything in your power to escape the area as quickly as possible should you ever find yourself in such a situation. A far cry from the bizarre A-Team-tinged bravura Geraldo is shilling.
You can watch the clip here, courtesy of Media Matters:
arthurb3
WOW!
Stache
Yes that would make sense to bum rush the shooter but most were just in shock.
GayEGO
I doubt that Geraldo Rivera has been in the same situation. It is always easy to speculate on what “shoulda, woulda, coulda” happen when you are not there.
SnakeyJ
We should send Geraldo and Marky Mark Wahlberg to fight the terrorists obviously they know how to do things right.
Billy Budd
Complete idiot. Had to be Fox.
Terrycloth
Gerry Rivera speaks before thinking .just like trump. Watch him backtrack his way out this again ,like trump without apology
OzJosh
It take a very special kind of stupidity to look at what happened in Orlando and conclude the answer is more guns.
Rivera somehow skips over the fact that there was an armed off-duty cop among the victims. His gun didn’t do anything to improve the situation. As for the implication that the hapless victims should have done more to fight back… the gunman’s assault weapon had the capacity to fire 24 shots every nine seconds. I’d like to see Rivera’s tactical response to that. Seriously, somebody should stage a mock-up so he can demonstrate how he’d fight back. He would last less than a second. Yet, the gun lobby nuts go on saying this stuff, like it makes any sense.
It’s time the remaining sane citizens of the US looked around the world and got a clue. There are more than 10 gun deaths per 100,000 Americans every year – and that’s more than ten times the number of any other comparable western democracy. Australia banned assault weapons in 1996 after a series of mass shootings. There has not been a single mass shooting since. Banning these weapons works. Reducing the number of guns on the street works. Arming more people only leads to more deaths (even just from accidents alone). It’s not a difficult concept to grasp, people!
GC1985
Rivera is starting to become senile. He spouts off nonsense. And why do these wingnuts keep discussing Daesh? This was not a Daesh influenced attack. It was an attack by a deranged man. Geraldo is screwed up like most Trump supporters (look at the few lunatics on this site).
This was an attack by a lunatic who couldn’t accept himself. Bobby Kennedy once questioned why we let people of all shades of sanity to obtain weapons so easily. Maybe he should ask why gun control is so weak.
GC1985
@GC1985: My last question was referring to Rivera asking that. Why is gun control so weak?
NateOcean
The recommended strategy is: Run, hide, fight.
But if you don’t make it out alive, it doesn’t mean the strategy failed.
It means it’s really hard you out run a bullet…especially when they are coming at you 40 rounds a minute…because the guy has an AR-15 Assault Rifle.
zipperzone
Does anyone really pay attention to what this fool says?
He should stick to his “Dancing with the Stars” debacle so the world can see in realtime what an asshole he is.
He BGB
He said nothing negative about gay people which is a relief his being on Fox News. So why did this make gay news ? These are the tactics he learned from a guest on his old talk show no doubt. Like they did on Inside Edition recently. A security “expert” tells you what to do if you are attacked in a club
tlfflt1983
FIGHT BACK
If an alligator bites someone, they should make a commotion. Hit or kick the alligator, or poke it in its eyes, because alligators will retreat from prey they can’t easily overwhelm.
From the report on the Disney alligator.
So what do you do when a human animal attacks. Cower and do nothing?
Xzamilio
Didn’t Ben Carson say the same stupid shit about one of these mass shootings? I swear, this shit is on repeat with them… let’s whip out the talking points. Well, let’s set up a GoFundMe page for Geraldo Rivera to always be available to take a red eye to every mass shooting that happens and “fight back.” Fucking idiot.
Malcolm Forest
What the guy said made total sense.
It is OBVIOUS that this website is taking his words out of context to justify attacking this celebrity who they don’t like.
From what this person said, I am guessing he is anti-Islam and I am guessing this website is pro-Islam.
Malcolm Forest
You American GLBT people are really frakked up in the head. You worship guns and you let religious morons brainwash you and treat you like slaves. Get a backbone already!
When did you ever hear of some European 17 year old GLBT person being legally enslaved to pray away the gay?
Just keep worshipping your shite political system and keep worshipping your guns and your fundamentalist religion.
People like me in Europe used to think America was the most advanced wonderful country in the world. Now we just feel pity for you.
Grow the hell up America.
Brian
By closing time, many of the club-goers would have been inebriated or outright drunk. This clouds the way you think and react. The shooter chose his time according to this notion.
I sometimes wonder why the club-goers didn’t gang up on this creep but it’s easier said than done in the circumstances.
Alistair Wiseman
@Billy Budd:
Yes, Fox News. But unlike other news channels, Fox News actually employs liberals.
Geraldo Rivera is a liberal, not a conservative.
Alistair Wiseman
@Malcolm Forest:
Yes, you are so sophisticated in Europe.
Enjoy your Islamization of Europe!
joeyty
@Malcolm Forest: In Europe you’ll be under Muslim rule long before we will, so….hush. And we haven’t had mass rapes by refugees yet.
dean089
My only take-away here is that Geraldo Rivera is still alive. He was always a sensationalist buffoon.
john.k
We have a word in Ireland for guys like him – Gobshite!
Bob LaBlah
@dean089: Well said. Hopefully you all now understand why no one else but Fox Noise was interested in hiring him? I hate to tell you this, Geraldo, but when an assault rifle is being fired, people dropping like flies and the guy has already reloaded the most natural instinct, even amongst hunted wild animals, is to RUN as fast as you an in the OTHER direction.
On New Years Eve I turn the damn lights out (except the ones I leave on all year on my front porch) and make damn sure I am sitting parallel with the brick portion of my house. I am on friendly basis with all of my neighbors but still don’t trust the majority of these assault-weapons-buying yahoo’s no further than I can throw them physically.
scotshot
@Brian: @Alistair Wiseman: @joeyty:
Why don’t the three of you go stand in front of someone firing an AR15 and see which of you survive (hint: no one)
A dark club, music at high volume and someone discharges their weapon. 49 dead in Orlando. Why do you think that the patrons in Aurora – 12 people – all died, in Paris 130 died. Is it also their fault that they’re dead?
IS IT THEIR FAULT? Unequivocally NO.
The next time you feel it’s OK to blame victims for their deaths, rapes, assaults FUCKOFF. You’re a bunch of p*ss**s
joeyty
@scotshot: I never said it was their fault, nor agreed with Geraldo.
Condor221
Who??
misterhollywood
It’s just disgusting what he said. I watched the video. Nothing was taken out of context. He was victim blaming.
Alistair Wiseman
@scotshot:
“The next time you feel it’s OK to blame victims for their deaths, rapes, assaults FUCKOFF. You’re a bunch of p*ss**s”
You must have a serious reading comprehension problem. Please quote me where I have said anything evenly remotely accurate of what you just charged me with.
Bit of advice: before you hit “send”, make sure that any hideous accusations you are hurdling at someone are accurate. Pathetic
GC1985
Of course Alistain will continue taking craps on the victims. He sees this tragedy as a political opportunity. I highly urge everyone to report this cancer to Queerty.
Meanwhile this loser keeps fear mongering and yapping about the Islamization of Europe. This is what we call not using your brain and watching to much conservative propaganda.
But it is awesome the idiot is blaming the victims. Can somebody ban this sh*t stain already?
joeyty
@GC1985: YOU should talk. I bet you’re not going down to Orlando to apologize to those peoples’ families, are you? You couldn’t even go just a few miles to San Bernardino to take some responsibility.
GC1985
Joeyty needs to be banned immediately for insulting the victims. He should apologize or be removed. The guy is truly a scumbag.
joeyty
@GC1985: You cause these things to happen (not by yourself, but..) and then you insult the victims. But…you’re not from the U.S. anyway, so…(Although you haven’t even considered that some of the victims might have been foreign visitors too. Not that it should change anything). But you still basically do your high-heeled kicks of joy anytime these slaughters happen.
GC1985
Joeyty is happy this attack happened. He needs to be banned immediately. I will continue to ignore the pest. I would institutionalize him to a mental hospital.
gayhope1990
Give a dog a bad name and hang him,he showes his hatred.Blame the victims for not mentioning the new era.Fanatical Christians are not our only enemies
Mkiel
I would suggest Geraldo Rivera faces someone shooting an assault rifle ,maybe he can also invite some like mined friends to see how they fare
Chris
@Stache: I agree. The first time someone encounters something dangerous and unexpected, they often experience shock. People who are in shock take longer to react; and even then, their reactions often don’t make sense.
Chris
@Mkiel: Where’s Queerty hides it thumbs-up emoji?
Marvellis1
Geraldo is just another bottom feeder.
Sluggo2007
He knew what he was saying. He said it hoping to gain publicity for his long-dead career. Hint, hint. It ain’t gonna work, Geraldo!