For those who didn’t see this part of TV history:
In an interview with Barbara Walters:
Nov 30, 2017 Guardian
Headline:
Bette Midler renews allegation Geraldo Rivera groped her.
Actor posts video of 1991 interview in which she describes alleged assault, saying TV host and producer pushed drugs ‘under my nose’....
(Midler was in the hall and when the door opened, Rivera grabbed her and pushed the first drug popper under her nose before she could fight back.)
In the clip, Midler hesitates in recounting what she alleges happened with Rivera during his visit to interview her in the early 70s, 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,” she said. “Poppers” is slang for the alkyl nitrites class of drugs.
“I did not offer myself up on the altar of Geraldo Rivera,” said Midler, calling his behavior “unseemly”.
Back then, sexual assault from a well known, well liked celebrity was rarely pursued or made public.
In today’s world, Geraldo would be figuratively Drawn and Quartered by the Gloria Allreds of the world.