He’s been Geraldo Rivera at least since the early 70s, when he did the Willowbrook Institution investigative piece that made him a star.
Trivia: He was our high school commencement speaker in 1975. I don’t remember anything he said.
What made him a star was when he was a lawyer (before he was a "media personality"), who made his name representing "The Young Lords", a gang of Puerto Rican thugs, back before "gangs" were "cool."
The guy is a real piece of werk, and a total chameleon. He's "ethnic guy du jour", capable of being offended at whatever is convenient to be offended about (with "convenient" equating to "self-promotion", of course).