Saturday, January 06, 2007

He's Been Called "Geraldo of Arabia"

In November of 1988, the Geraldo daytime talk show achieved its highest ratings ever in over thirteen million homes. Young Hate Mongers featured John Metzger of the Aryan Youth Movement, and Robert Heick of the National Front (both white), Roy Innis of the Congress of Racial Equality (black), rabbi A. Bruce Goldman (Jewish), and a New Jersey couple who claimed they'd been attacked and terrorized by skinheads. Sitting in the audience was an army of neo-Nazi skinheads representing National Resistance.
Throughout the program, young white supremacists were taunted and goaded, being called "a bunch of young clowns." Rivera warned them not to push him too hard. Calling his guests "hate mongers," and using cockroach metaphors was Rivera's rhetorical strategy, and it certainly resulted in a brawl. Geraldo stood back and watched the violence ensue, until a chair flew across the room and collided with his face. Geraldo stepped into the ring and fought back well, throwing some terrific punches.
This is what Geraldo looked like after the incident described above, which prompted Joan Rivers to say something like: Geraldo, the next time you're looking for a "nose job," see a professional.

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