Rivera appeared to double down in a subsequent tweet, proposing tougher standards for evaluating claims, on the premise that some victims might be \u201cmotivated by more than justice.<\/p>\n
By Wednesday evening he apologized for the tweets, saying harassers are \u201cdeviants who deserve what is coming.\u201d <\/p>\n
Just as Rivera tweeted his thoughts, however, a video<\/a> featuring footage from a 1991 Bette Midler interview began buzzing around the internet. The Jewish actress and singer tells Barbara Walters that Rivera violently assaulted her the first time they met.<\/p>\n Earlier that year, Rivera had published an autobiography called \u201cExposing Myself\u201d in which he claimed to have \u2014 in the words of Walters \u2014 a \u201ctorrid\u201d sexual affair with Midler when she was a rising star in the early 1970s. (According to a Washington Post review<\/a>, the book was full of other scandalous claims, including that Rivera took two prostitutes with him to the bar mitzvah of Hollywood producer Jerry Weintraub\u2019s son.)<\/p>\n Midler, however, explains to Walters that she has a different recollection of their relations. At first Midler laughs off the book\u2019s claim, then gets serious, saying she would probably get in trouble if she divulged the circumstances of their first encounter. Walters lightly coaxes her into spilling the story.<\/p>\n In Midler\u2019s words, Rivera and his producer pushed her into a bathroom, broke two \u201cpoppers\u201d (inhalant alkyl nitrate drugs), pushed them under her nose and proceeded to grope her.<\/p>\n \u201cI did not offer myself up on the altar of Geraldo Rivera,\u201d she said. \u201cHis behavior was unseemly.\u201d<\/p>\n Walters looks shocked, but as she tries to move on, Midler says, \u201cIf I knew \u2026 20 years later that he was going to end up a slimy talk show host, I never would have even let him in the room.\u201d<\/p>\n On Wednesday morning, Midler tweeted that Rivera has yet to apologize for the episode.<\/p>\n Rivera, who hosted multiple tabloid-style talk shows for decades and is now a contributor on Fox News, is the son of a Puerto Rican father and a Jewish mother. He had a bar mitzvah.<\/p>\n Midler \u2014 the recipient of numerous awards, including Grammys, Tonys, Golden Globes and Emmys \u2014 grew up in a Jewish family in Hawaii.<\/p>\n![\"Share](\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\")