Geraldo airs footage of dead Russian model’s corpse
posted at 10:05 pm on July 1, 2008 by Allahpundit
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I’m trying not to let my knee jerk too hard here, partly because I don’t want to let my antipathy to him color my judgment and partly because the ‘Net is awash in footage of people dead or dying, and we’re no exception. It’s the O’Reilly dilemma revisited: When it comes to shock video, where does the line fall between raising awareness of an outrageous injustice, as in the case of the waiting-room clip, and giving viewers a cheap thrill? It may perhaps not surprise you to find that the man who crawled inside Al Capone’s vault has a different sense of that than you do. But judge for yourself, if you feel the need to subject yourself to it; the video and background are at TV Newser. An unnamed Fox producer is being blamed for the “error.” Mm hmm.
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Not sure what’s worse - the fact that Geraldo showed the footage, or that he’s too much of a coward to own up to his mistake.
Slublog on July 1, 2008 at 10:11 PM
Eh.
doodleduh on July 1, 2008 at 10:12 PM
Shoudn’t this be headlined “Classy”?
andycanuck on July 1, 2008 at 10:17 PM
Not sure what’s worse - the fact that Geraldo showed the footage, or the fact that he continues to have a job with a news network that gives him the opportunity.
speed911 on July 1, 2008 at 10:18 PM
It is so unlike Geraldo to do something like this! Are you sure he did this?
AUINSC on July 1, 2008 at 10:18 PM
Are there no shows where a talent like Geraldo can take a chair upside his fool head?
Whither those halcyon days of yore?
Scribbler on July 1, 2008 at 10:19 PM
I got really sick of those teenagers beating a teenager in FL video; Fox played that around the clock. I hate to see or hear people in distress.
carbon_footprint on July 1, 2008 at 10:19 PM
The only optimistic reason I could see why he would want to show this is to show the abject horror of suicide. However, I doubt that was a reason, and that seemed just unnecessary.
MB007 on July 1, 2008 at 10:22 PM
This is Geraldo; his whole rise to fame was sensationalism.
carbon_footprint on July 1, 2008 at 10:22 PM
WOW - what a dope!
Sickening Heraldo!
iam7545 on July 1, 2008 at 10:23 PM
Maybe this will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
Zorro on July 1, 2008 at 10:24 PM
If it bleeds; it leads.
harrison on July 1, 2008 at 10:25 PM
As Jon Stweart pointed out long ago, the only person ordered to leave Iraq other than Saddam and his sons was Geraldo.
I know its old, but it bears repeating: “I cannot define
pornographysnuff, but I know it when I see it.”Pure snuff.
VolMagic on July 1, 2008 at 10:29 PM
Greta is going to kick his ass.
Talon on July 1, 2008 at 10:29 PM
Dump him Fox I turn the channel when hes’ on.
Ever since Katrina I can’t stand sight or voice of the ….
No words worth printing to describe the ….
dhunter on July 1, 2008 at 10:31 PM
I am seated less than 200 yards from the “Capone’s vault” building, which is presently about to be a new hi-rise condo. Geraldo’s schtick is tired, but honestly, I would blame this on a producer. It’s a long distance shot at a body which clearly appeared to be in a bag, then the bag appeared to blow off. Meh.
carlitos on July 1, 2008 at 10:32 PM
That’s not entertainment.
Finding some guy on the street who will pound Geraldo into paste for twenty bucks? Now THAT’S entertainment!
wccawa on July 1, 2008 at 10:33 PM
In these two cases, miles and miles apart.
SouthernDem on July 1, 2008 at 10:34 PM
It seems likely that the person who cued up the video cut it too far back to where we could see the actual body.
Geraldo’s a turd, and his description of the body was unnecessary, but I’m not sure we can know that he picked the exact portion of the clip to air.
TexasDan on July 1, 2008 at 10:36 PM
Unless he can link her death to Putin, mere vapid morbidity.
profitsbeard on July 1, 2008 at 10:36 PM
We don’t have cable - did Fox ever show any of the hostages getting their heads cut off?
splink on July 1, 2008 at 10:36 PM
My knee is jerking like crazy…
d1carter on July 1, 2008 at 10:37 PM
Empty sacks disguised as professional journalists.
shaken on July 1, 2008 at 10:37 PM
I don’t know. I wasn’t really upset by it, but where he said “lame quote” - “she was a good person”…well, that was a bit of the old classless extraordinaire.
Spirit of 1776 on July 1, 2008 at 10:38 PM
GERALDO??????? You must mean Gerry Rivera.
bloggless on July 1, 2008 at 10:39 PM
Everytime he is on O’reilly I switch to Olbermann.
maynila on July 1, 2008 at 10:44 PM
An error by a producer? Doesn’t the director decide what goes to air at Fox, or the technical director who is actually at the switcher punching buttons? Geraldo himself clearly had no problem with it, as with live TV, there’s almost always a monitor for the talent to look at.
Tho, I will say- this wasn’t all that graphic or disgusting or anything like that, I don’t think. I’ve seen a million videos on the news that are worse than this.
TheBlueSite on July 1, 2008 at 10:51 PM
If only I were witty enough to out-do this gem!
A+, my friend.
omnipotent on July 1, 2008 at 10:52 PM
Any time geraldo comes on i change the channel. Anyone who threatens to spit on a skinny little girl just because she is more intelligent than him is despicable
Dadzilla on July 1, 2008 at 10:53 PM
Sick, sick, sick
AprilOrit on July 1, 2008 at 11:04 PM
I remember watching the tsunami footage three or four years ago with fascination bordering on thrill, hard to argue how educational it was.
An interesting story was of some teenager in California who got upset with her father (on her birthday, I believe) and stole her father’s expensive sport’s car, got drunk, and sped right into a concrete post at a check point. Authorities took pictures of the accident, and somehow the close-up photo of this girl in the car ended up on the internet (I could Google it in 10 seconds if I wanted to). The family ended up suing. I don’t know the status of that case, but my friends and I argued for hours - if you get drunk and slam into a concrete post or depressed and jump out a window, do you lose your right to privacy?
Marcus on July 1, 2008 at 11:06 PM
How ironic: doesn’t the label on the (paint?) can under the tarp say “Super Hide.” And, the side of the white truck says “Courtesy, professionalism, tact.” None of the above.
Kalifornia Kafir on July 1, 2008 at 11:09 PM
I’m so tired of FNC being the only place for right-leaning newsaholics to tune the TV dial. Geraldo’s just one example of a persistent pattern of mediocrity at Fox. Where’s the NPR/PBS/McNeil-Lehrer/Frontline for righties?
Purple Fury on July 1, 2008 at 11:10 PM
We need to start a campaign to replace Geraldo with Michelle.
- The Cat
P.S. Send an e-mail, call Fox, write your local Homestarman!
MirCat on July 1, 2008 at 11:13 PM
jerraldo is just pure-dee-o scum!
TheSitRep on July 1, 2008 at 11:15 PM
Similar story was the narcotics perp who ran from police, fell off a 35-ft embankment, got his head caught on the spike of a wrought-iron fence, and his body kept going without it. Some cop took pics and spread them around the internet. Gruesome, shocking, titillating, horrifying pics. Had to be confirmed by Snopes they were so outlandishly gruesome. The cop got in huge trouble for those pics, from what I understand. Apparently that crossed the line, even though the guy was being a lawbreaking idiot when it happened. The cop got fired and maybe sued. If only the same would happen to Geraldo.
aero on July 1, 2008 at 11:16 PM
Newsflash
Geraldo is a pig!
RobCon on July 1, 2008 at 11:27 PM
Jerry Rivers strikes again.
The_Freeze on July 2, 2008 at 12:12 AM
I’m shocked. No, really.
labrat on July 2, 2008 at 12:15 AM
Geraldo……..class? Isnt’ that an oxymoron?
GarandFan on July 2, 2008 at 12:15 AM
I’ll have to retract my post above…according snopes his name actually is Geraldo Rivera. Wonder where the Jerry Rivers rumor came from.
The_Freeze on July 2, 2008 at 12:17 AM
There, fixed that for ya! :)
Vntnrse on July 2, 2008 at 12:57 AM
I happened to catch the under-the-ambulance footage (meaning that some jackass with a camera had to have gotten down on his stomach, on the street, to shoot it) when it aired, and maybe I shouldn’t at this point, but I found its lack of taste astounding even for Geraldo.
Cylor on July 2, 2008 at 1:11 AM
I don’t get it.
Is Allah saying we rubes needed to be shielded? Where was Allah on the 9-11 jumpers News outlets ban?
I’m guessing Allah felt us rubes should be shielded from those 9-11 images too?
Because we are too stupid to figure it all out? Is that it?
Topsecretk9 on July 2, 2008 at 2:01 AM
Geraldo at Large. Ha. The name of that show cracks me up. It reminds me of the old Baba Wawa at Waj bit on SNL.
Go pester some more psychos with chairs, Punchingbagface.
hillbillyjim on July 2, 2008 at 2:03 AM
Getting fired, not getting decapitated. In case that wasn’t clear.
aero on July 2, 2008 at 2:09 AM
Or are you too stupid to see the vast differences between the 9-11 events and this tragic scene?
hillbillyjim on July 2, 2008 at 2:11 AM
When exactly is Rupert Murdoch going to finally cut this sorry sack of monkey dung loose? I am now officially sick of this clown and his antics.
pilamaye on July 2, 2008 at 7:03 AM
“Rated R for Rivera”
HAHAHA
Bicyea on July 2, 2008 at 7:37 AM
Ultimately, the decision to air the video comes down to the management at Fox. As much as I detest Geraldo, he’s gonna get away with what ever he can to get other media outlets to talk about him. Hell, what has he got to lose, his reputation? Yeah boy.
Big Orange on July 2, 2008 at 7:37 AM
No matter who had the final decision to air this video, Geraldo Rivera has a history of this sort of thing and he has carried it along with him from show to show, network to network. He is a disgusting ego-manically driven man that will do anything and everything for ratings no matter how detestable. Ever since his pathetic Gary Gilmore report, this piece of human excrement has had a reputation for this sort of thing. When he came to FNC, I had the opportunity to confront Sean Humanity on his radio program and ask him how he could possibly expect us to buy into his approval for the addition of Geraldo to FNC, when until recently, referring to Geraldo in such a negative light (as most do). He stated “how much fun he had playing basketball with him in his driveway the other day, and that he realized then, that he really is a good person”. Sean proceeded to (for the first time I ever heard him) get so mad that he yelled out into the radio that “YOU ARE REALLY PISSING ME OFF”. I got the feeling that he was caught, he KNEW he had to work closely with Geraldo and he knew he had to accept him…but I DONT! Last month, I called in yet again, and before I could ask him my actual question, I mentioned that I had spoken to him years ago and made him upset, that I hope not to do so this time (I had no intention of bringing up Geraldo, again) but Sean asked about the content of the previous call and I then proceeded to bring it up. He then reiterated that Geraldo was in fact an “honorable and good man”. The conversation never got even slightly hot, we just talked for a minute recalling the conversation form years ago. All was fine. When I was disconnected the screener asked me “never to call in again”. Sure, Geraldo is a piece of crap, but I firmly believe that almost all reporters and NEWS people (conservative or liberal) not unlike politicians…are not to far behind Geraldo.
eplain on July 2, 2008 at 8:27 AM
Not the Geraldo I know…Wait…yes, it is.
whitetop on July 2, 2008 at 9:27 AM
Same thing happened yesterday during the live desk show. They showed a home video of the chopper wreckage shortly after the crash. I believe they had shown some corpses because the producer was blocking out the screen with his hand….
JVelez on July 2, 2008 at 9:31 AM
Oh, who cares.
Rational Thought on July 2, 2008 at 9:53 AM
I couldn’t get the video to play but I doubt it would bother me since I have seen enough “jumpers” in real life. If there was a caution and people had the ability to not watch it, can’t see how they can complain.
There is something to be said about portraying suicide as it really is and not as glamorous as they make it in the movies. There was some cable series that dealt with the aftermath of suicide, i.e., the anger and sadness of the families, the people who had to clean up the mess, etc. More people should see it.
And would anyone give a damn if she wasn’t a “supermodel”? I had a friend who every time there was a female suicide he would get real serious and ask, Was she … pretty?
Anyway, sorry the young woman thought this was her only option — it was not.
Blake on July 2, 2008 at 9:54 AM
Oh, who cares.
Rational Thought on July 2, 2008 at 9:53 AM
Thank you! some sense…
and btw, if you are going to air the story at all, why NOT show the images. maybe it will keep others from killingthemselves .. it certainly shows a less than glamorous “fairy tale” aspect to the act
max1 on July 2, 2008 at 9:55 AM
Very tragic — a young beautiful woman dead, and her gruesome end broadcast on tv…what a world.
Richard Romano on July 2, 2008 at 9:55 AM
Okay, so how many of the people expressing their outrage at this glimpse of the model’s face will be plunking down $8-$10 to view the garish, twisted, bloodlike smear of a smile on a pale countenance that makes up the heralded final performance of the equally tortured and anguished Heath Ledger in the new Batman flick?
Captain Scarlet on July 2, 2008 at 9:55 AM
Let’s not mince words here: What a dick.
Metro on July 2, 2008 at 10:03 AM
Even Fox, which recognised the crying need for a conservative point of view in the media, still buys into the liberal line that conservatives are gun-totin, bible thumpin’, uneducated hicks who want their news delivered with hysteria, bikinis and blood.
There’s still an opening for another cable channel to present intelligent conservative programming, but of course, they would rather die.
NellE on July 2, 2008 at 10:19 AM
That about sums it up.
I can’t believe this aired. The truth is pretty simple: the suicide of some hottie nobody outside the fashion world has ever heard of is not news …
… unless there’s a macabre video to show.
This didn’t air despite that video; it only aired BECAUSE of the video.
FoxNews ought to be ashamed. Geraldo, of course, has no shame.
And is indeed a dick of epic proportions.
Professor Blather on July 2, 2008 at 10:23 AM
Revulto Herrera — just one more reason why I no longer watch the tabloid trash called “Fox News Channel”.
glockman on July 2, 2008 at 10:27 AM
It wasn’t too gratuitous. You couldn’t see much. I can believe it was an oversight - the body was shown fully covered early on.
But by all means, hyperventilate if it makes you feel nobler than thou.
LimeyGeek on July 2, 2008 at 11:09 AM
Ruslana Korshunova was Kazakh, like Borat, unless you deem ethnicity to be more important than nationality, which is an odd choice for an American blog.
GermanAtheist on July 2, 2008 at 11:19 AM
C’mon AP, O’Reilly would never have aired this vid.
RMCS_USN on July 2, 2008 at 11:28 AM
Geraldo Rivera is one of those personalities that can be entertaining in some circumstances and revolting in others. I was kind of aghast when he joined Fox initially, but after watching him for a while I decided he had his moments. Keep in mind - he went to Fox because he wanted to cover Afghanistan and the folks at CNBC/MSNBC wouldn’t send him. He then proceeded to state in every broadcast how right it was to take out the Taliban and how wonderful our troops were. He’s also been fairly supportive of the Iraq war. He hates criminals that prey on kids and his passion on that subject really illuminates the crime stories he covers. The tabloid sensation gets the better of him sometimes. His stance on immigration is not only wrong, but causes him to get irrationally nasty [it led him to to spew a tirade against Michelle Malkin]. However, I do think the guy means well, he’s very pro-American, and on the right story he’s worth watching. This obviously wasn’t one of those moments.
Jill1066 on July 2, 2008 at 11:49 AM
Meh. It’s more exciting than Al Capone’s vault.
spmat on July 2, 2008 at 12:04 PM
Whoraldo would air his own brothers corpse for shook
value. Why does Fox still keep this turdstash on.
The grinning idiot then goes Oops . . .Must have been
a technical glitch. A$$hole
Texyank on July 2, 2008 at 12:07 PM
We can predict future behavior by looking at past behavior.
Why does Fox News keep this shock jock around? He’s an embarrassment. This is the same guy who attempted to reveal the location of our troops in Iraq (101st Airborne) by writing their location, in the sand, during a Fox News report. Fox News should have fired him then. My family and friends will NOT watch Geraldo Rivera.
There are so many talented people who could easy take his place. How about Michelle Malkin, a true patriot?
sinsing on July 2, 2008 at 12:08 PM
eplain on July 2, 2008 at 12:13 PM
I completely agree with you and I am writing Fox News yourcomment@foxnews.com to express those very sentiments and to express my disdain regarding his latest disgraceful behavior involving that poor model. He is destroying the Fox News brand.
sinsing on July 2, 2008 at 12:20 PM
dont misunderstand though, i dont think this is all that bad. just another act of his in a long line of gratuitous acts. he has done FAR worse than…this. Its just another straw.
eplain on July 2, 2008 at 1:03 PM
Precisely, as I stated in my post earlier comment:
“We can predict future behavior by looking at past behavior.”
sinsing on July 2, 2008 at 1:16 PM
A “line” that, btw, seems to be working rather well for them, don’t you think? Maybe they know something you don’t?
Grow Fins on July 2, 2008 at 1:23 PM
i agree. and we have become like the Romans in soooo many ways. what excites us… our borders… so much so.
eplain on July 2, 2008 at 1:53 PM
Geraldo tasteless? For sure, but that’s called “belaboring the obvious.” The “lame comment” bull he uttered about her boyfriend calling her a “good person” is a new low for that turd.
Needless length of footage? Absolutely. A shot of the poor girl’s body being hauled off in a tarp would’ve sufficed.
Gruesome? Gimme a break. It’s a profile shot from afar of a face with a bit of blood trickling down the side of it from her mouth. I’ve seen pictures in the news of people who’d been in a bar fight and survived that looked far more “gruesome” than that. And “her face pale in death?” It wasn’t noticeably paler than your average passer-by in stock footage of city crowds out shopping, but I award Rachel Sklar full points for milking it for all that it’s worth. Bullshit as poetry.
But I’m sure that a bunch of emasculated metrosexuals are already weighing their options regarding suing Fox for “emotional distress.” One should never pass up on a free meal ticket, after all.
Grow a pair, please, it’s sickening.
Misha I on July 2, 2008 at 6:33 PM
whoa…..cross your legs guys
eplain on July 3, 2008 at 9:24 AM