Bette vid tells of old grope by Geraldo
BETTE MIDLER is reviving her decades-old allegation that Geraldo Rivera and a producer groped her in the early ’70s.
Midler, 71, tweeted footage from a 1991 interview with Barbara Walters in which she details how Rivera and a crew member “pushed” her into a bathroom and placed their hands on her.
“Tomorrow is my birthday. I feel like this video was a gift from the universe to me,” Midler tweeted along with the video. “Geraldo may have apologized for his tweets supporting Matt Lauer, but he has yet to apologize for this,” she wrote.
During the sitdown with Walters, which first resurfaced earlier this week, Midler said her encounter with the veteran journalist happened during an interview.
“This was when he was very, sort of, hot,” Midler explained. “And he and his producer left the crew in the other room, they pushed me into my bathroom, they broke two poppers and pushed them under my nose and proceeded to grope me.”
When Walters expressed shock, Midler reiterated the words “grope me.”
“I did not offer myself up on the altar of Geraldo Rivera,” she said. “He was unseemly. His behavior was unseemly.”
Midler did not say exactly when the alleged fondling happened. Rivera, 74, worked as an ABC reporter throughout the 1970s.
The “Hello, Dolly” actress’ tweet comes a day after Rivera seemed to defend axed “Today” show host Matt Lauer, who was ousted by NBC Wednesday after a complaint accusing him of inappropriate sexual behavior.
“News is a flirty business & it seems like current epidemic of #SexHarassmentAllegations may be criminalizing courtship & conflating it w predation,” Rivera tweeted.
Rivera later apologized for his remarks.