Fox News Channel honors Geraldo Rivera’s iconic career as he signs off from network

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'Fox & Friends' salutes Geraldo Rivera's legendary career

From the front lines to natural disasters to social unrest, Geraldo Rivera reflects on his over 50-year career.

Fox News Channel celebrated the iconic career of Geraldo Rivera Friday during his last appearance on the network.

"Fox & Friends" co-host Steve Doocy called for everyone in the building to give Rivera a standing ovation as he announced the longtime Fox News personality. 

"I am honored, I love Fox, I love the people at Fox, I always will," Rivera said, after he watched a video montage featuring his longtime Fox News and FOX Business colleagues.

"I’ll never let anyone separate us, but I am beyond grateful for this," he continued. "This is so deeply affecting, I love you for it. Thank you."

GERALDO RIVERA CELEBRATES 50 YEARS ON TV: ‘THE FIRST ROCK 'N' ROLL NEWSMAN’

Fox News Channel celebrated the iconic career of Geraldo Rivera during his last appearance on the network on Friday.  (Fox News)

Rivera, who has more than 50 years of experience as a broadcaster, joined Fox News Channel as a war correspondent in 2001 and recently served as co-host of cable news’ most-watched program "The Five." 

"I was treated as a family member here," Rivera said. "We became family." 

The "FOX & Friends" highlight reel of Rivera's career featured footage of the iconic newsman with everyone from a young Arnold Schwarzenegger, Paul McCartney, Muhammad Ali and even a shirtless segment with George Hamilton. Highlights from his time on "Dancing with the Stars" was unearthed, as was a decades-old segment with then-real estate mogul Donald Trump. 

"Every one of those scenes brings back a whole visceral reaction," he said as the montage concluded. 

"FOX & Friends" then aired a second highlight reel, this time it was Fox News hosts praising Rivera. 

"Congrats on that amazing career, very few people achieve one-name status, you’ve done it," Pete Hegseth said, while Bret Baier said he would miss his longtime friend. 

"From the times you were on the frontline in Afghanistan, to some of those handoffs from ‘The Five,’ and always seeing pictures of your family, I wish you the best," Baier said. "Stay in touch, I’ll see you down the road." 

Geraldo Rivera's "Fox & Friends" colleagues donned fake mustaches as they celebrated his career at Fox News. (Fox News)

Emily Compagno called him a journalistic icon, Lawrence Jones said Geraldo was one of the first people to support his career, Martha MacCallum said she was grateful for their time as colleagues, Ainsley Earhardt called it a "privilege" to work with him, Kayleigh McEnany praised his "long and impressive career of groundbreaking journalism" and Jesse Watters called it an honor to follow in his footsteps.

"Geraldo, you ferocious animal, I love you," Watters said. 

Sandra Smith, Neil Cavuto, Larry Kudlow, Jeanine Pirro and Sean Hannity also wished Rivera a fond farewell.

"You have been one of the greatest broadcasters of all time," Hannity said. "You and I will forever be friends, and brothers. I love you." 

Before joining "The Five," he was a correspondent-at-large for Fox News Channel, where he provided live coverage and commentary on breaking news stories, including terrorist attacks, natural disasters, and other historic events. Rivera’s career took a turn following the attacks of September 11, 2001, when the native New Yorker walked away from a high-paying CNBC gig and joined Fox News because he wanted to work as a war correspondent. He did 11 assignments in Afghanistan and 11 in Iraq along with multiple trips to other battle-torn areas. 

"It was just something I had to do, to go over there," he said. "I met many service members who are still dear friends." 

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In 2015, he reported live from Paris, France to cover the deadly terrorist attacks at the Bataclan theatre and from Baltimore on the death of Freddie Gray and the protests that followed. 

In 2011, Rivera was reporting live from Benghazi, Libya when he became caught in crossfire between the Libyan military and rebel forces.  

In 2007, Rivera took part in Fox News' extensive coverage of the Minneapolis bridge collapse, and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. In 2001, Rivera was stationed in Afghanistan to cover Operation Enduring Freedom and later in Bethlehem to cover the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He also reported on the Iraqi elections from Baghdad. 

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Rivera, who has covered virtually every international conflict since 1973, has also hosted multiple specials for both Fox News Channel and Fox Nation. In 2020, Rivera spoke to Fox News Digital about his 50-year anniversary as a TV personality.  

"In the words of Jerry Garcia, it’s been a long strange ride," Rivera, who never made an appearance without his trademark mustache over five decades, said at the time. 

"I’m like an old friend to so many people now. It's more than credibility, it’s familiarity, and I honor that, I treasure that. It’s my most important resource and my most valuable asset." 

Rivera referred to himself as a "street lawyer" who got a crash course in journalism at Columbia University during a summer program when Al Primo, the founder of "Eyewitness News," discovered him while looking for diversity among his reporters to match the ethnic diversity of New York City. 

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Shortly afterward, he was quickly thrown on television at WABC on Labor Day 1970, back when the mainstream media typically didn’t take young people who looked like him seriously. 

"I was like the first rock 'n' roll newsman, you know, long hair, mustache... in the 1970s I think I really spoke to that decade," Rivera said. 

Geraldo quickly gained prominence with a series of reports on the widespread drug problems in New York City's Harlem, but Rivera’s career took off in 1972 when the 28-year-old exposed the deplorable conditions of Willowbrook State School, where children with special needs were being abused and mistreated. The award-winning reports led to a government investigation and the institution was eventually shut down. 

The Willowbrook story fast-tracked his career, but Rivera feels that reaching celebrity status was inevitable. 

"I know I would have been ‘famous,’ I would have been, you know, a New York celebrity," he said. "I won my first Columbia duPont award in 1971, a few months before Willowbrook... but Willowbrook kind of supercharged all that." 

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Rivera went on to do just about everything in the television industry, from hosting newsmagazine-style "Good Night America," the groundbreaking daytime talk show "Geraldo," "Rivera Live" on CNBC, to over two decades at Fox News. Along the way he’s become friendly with everyone from Michael Jackson to Donald Trump, had roles on TV, and even first presented the historic Zapruder film of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. 

He also hosted the infamous Al Capone’s vault special, broke his nose on live TV and anchored Fox News’ coverage when Usama bin Laden was killed by Navy SEALs. Rivera has accomplished a lot over the past five decades, but the Willowbrook story, which helped end America’s practice of institutionalizing the developmentally disabled, holds a special place in his heart to this day. 

"Everybody used television and the power of television to complain about an issue, what was revolutionary was to then use that power to change the thing we were complaining about," he said. "Remember, Barack Obama didn’t invent hope and change."

Rivera said that once he realized he could affect change, he went in with both feet. He has received more than 170 awards for journalism, including the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award, three national and seven local Emmys, two Columbia-Dupont and two additional Scripps Howard Journalism Awards.  

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