Geraldo Rivera is now facing the repercussions of a semi-nude selfie he posted to Twitter in July. Duquesne University, a Catholic academic institute in Pennsylvania, withdrew their invitation for Rivera to speak at an event on campus.
Rivera was scheduled to speak on a panel at Duquesne about the 50th anniversary of the JFK assassination in October. However, the racy tweet was deemed out of line with the school's religious values.
Bridget Fare, a spokesperson for the university, reported to The Christian Post "the administration felt that Mr. Rivera's decision to post a nearly naked picture of himself on social media was inappropriate and inconsistent with who we are as a Catholic Spiritan university.”
The school holds a level of standards for their students, and they don't want to send them mixed messages by inviting Rivera after posting an inappropriate picture online.
"We warn our students not to post questionable material on social media due to the possibility of negative consequences –you could consider this teaching by example."
Rivera disagrees and is angry with the university, making a statement that "the process of cancellation was incredibly rude. I was informed last week by a stranger, who introduced himself to me at a hotel bar, only to then tell me that he was on the JFK panel but that it was too bad my appearance had been canceled because of the offending tweet."
The talk show host again took to Twitter to express his annoyance with the decision, saying, "Just heard Duquesne Univ cancelled my appearance at JFK assassination panel because of 'selfie'. Fact I first aired Zapruder film less impt." The Los Angeles Times reports that Rivera finds his ban from speaking ridiculous, calling the act “pretentious censorship. He also reached out to his fans, asking them if they think he should be “banned for life.”
The nearly-nude picture of himself, which he later blamed on too many drinks of tequila, has since been deleted from Twitter.
The symposium, titled “Passing the Torch: An International Symposium on the 50th Anniversary of the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy,” is scheduled for October 17-19 and will host several renowned experts and speakers.
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
