Geraldo Rivera Threatens to Beat Up Keith Olbermann

January 9th, 2007 10:37 AM

Fox News’s Geraldo Rivera was recently being interviewed on a radio station in Florida, and, according to an article at the Orlando Sentinel’s blog on Monday, he harbors some ill feelings towards MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann.

This goes back to Rivera being kicked out of Iraq for divulging too much information about American troop movements. For whatever reason, Rivera feels that Olbermann was responsible for the media hype surrounding this incident (Update with video of KO's response follows):

Apparently Geraldo was visiting with 104.1 FM's Monsters just before Christmas, when they asked him about the time he made international headline [sic] for disclosing too much information about troops in Iraq. Geraldo claimed the incident was blown out of proportion, largely by NBC -- and specifically Olbermann. Geraldo then began mumbling semi-audible names, seemingly meant to describe Olbermann: "midget ... punk ... slimeball."

That wasn’t all Rivera had to say about KO:

But then, with the Monsters helpful prodding, Geraldo went a step further, leaving no doubt about what he was saying. He called Olbermann a coward -- specifically a "[female part of the anatomy] who wouldn't walk across the street against the red light."

He then said he was ready to fight him, saying: "I would make a pizza out of him."

According to the Sentinel, Olbermann responded to Rivera’s challenge on Monday’s “Countdown”:

UPDATE 1/9: Yes, Olbermann does know now. On his MSNBC show last night, he cited this blog and then recounted the story. He said the "midget" remark confused him, claiming: "I'm about 7 inches taller than he is." And after describing Geraldo's desire to fight him, he said: "Geraldo, you should not give me a hard time. I can still remember when you were a big deal ... back when I was a kid."

Stay tuned.

*****Update: Here is the video of KO's response on Monday's "Countdown." Here is the transcript:

The runner up, Geraldo Rivera.  The Orlando Sentinel reporting that late last night he was interviewed by a radio station there and asked about how he revealed American troop locations during the invasion of Iraq nearly four years ago, whereupon he promptly launched into a tirade against me.  Claiming, as he did then, that NBC was blowing it out of proportion as revenge for his leaving the company, even though we were all happy to see him leave the company.  He called me a midget and a punk, and said he would be happy to fight me, and, "make a pizza" out of me.  Which is kind of funny, because I’m about seven inches taller than he is.  Plus, Geraldo, you should not give me a hard time.  I can still remember when you were a big deal.  Back when I was a kid.