Bette Midler renewed an allegation of 1970s sexual misconduct against Geraldo Rivera on Thursday, a day after Rivera called the news business "flirty" amid Matt Lauer's dismissal by NBC, the AP reports. In a tweet posted by the actress-singer and confirmed by her publicist, she included a video from a 1991 interview with Barbara Walters in which Midler made the allegation against Rivera. "Tomorrow is my birthday. I feel like this video was a gift from the universe to me. Geraldo may have apologized for his tweets supporting Matt Lauer, but he has yet to apologize for this," Midler posted, adding the harassment-solidarity hashtag "#MeToo."
In the clip, Midler hesitates in recounting what she alleges happened with Rivera during his visit to interview her in the early 1970s, saying it will get her in trouble. "Get in a little trouble," Walters encourages her. After Rivera and a producer left their TV crew in another room, they "pushed me into my bathroom. They broke two poppers and pushed them under my nose and proceeded to grope me," Midler says. "I did not offer myself up on the altar of Geraldo Rivera," says Midler, calling his behavior "unseemly." Fox News , which currently employs Rivera but didn't in the '70s, didn't immediately comment. On Wednesday, Rivera apologized after saying an "epidemic" of allegations could be "criminalizing courtships."
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