Geraldo Rivera Defends ‘Genius’ Rupert Murdoch on CNN: ‘I See Him as a Good Boss’

Former Fox News host Geraldo Rivera defended his former boss Rupert Murdoch on Thursday after Murdoch announced his retirement as chairman of News Corporation and Fox Corporation.

Asked by CNN Tonight host Laura Coates to explain the significance of Murdoch’s retirement, Rivera — who left Fox News in July following a spat with The Five co-host Greg Gutfeld — said:

Well he’s the founding father, not just of Fox News, but of a media empire that has made him one of the richest people on Earth. He’s a genius, I think. His great discovery is that half the people in the English-speaking world feel that they are ignored by the mainstream media on issues like abortion, immigration, gun reform, and climate change. He discovered that, he created this empire to serve that population, it has served him well.

He got jammed up in that whole Dominion stuff, but he’s always been nice to me, kind to me, generous. When they cut my salary in half, when they had the big cut back before the pandemic, I went up to say, I said, ‘Hey boss, this is not right. I went in to combat for you and this and that,’ and he called downstairs and he said, ‘Okay, restore part of that cut.’ So, I see him as a good boss. A vibrant, charismatic guy, still full of verb and energy at 92 years old.

Rivera went on to say that Murdoch “surrounded himself with brilliant people,” before arguing:

I think it does a disservice to think that it was all sleazy kind of opportunism, because I don’t believe that he believed that. I believe that he was sincerely motivated. He could have, for example, when Fox News was being created, gone the way of other Fox syndicated programs like A Current Affair and gone tabloid and celebrities and all that TMZ kind of stuff. Instead, he went to serve a conservative audience, and while I disagree with almost everything in all of their positions, the majority of talent at Fox News, I appreciate the fact that half the people believe, for example, that abortion is a moral wrong, or that gun rights are absolute, or that immigration is bad, or that the climate is not changing. They’re very skeptical about that. So, you know, those are people who deserve to have their media.

Watch above via CNN.