The NFL can scratch off Geraldo Rivera from those who will be tuning in this season. The Fox News contributor blasted the league during the network’s “Fox and Friends” show on Friday–and got plenty of facts wrong while doing so.
Rivera, citing the Hernandez case, believes the NFL is home to a “gang culture” and ranted against the league and its members.
However, as noted by Simon Samano of the USA Today, Geraldo had a loose grip on reality when it comes to the Hernandez situation. Rivera cited Hernandez as fatherless and from the inner city. He went on to argue that the NFL recruited its players and that agents make 10% commission.
In reality, Samano argues that Hernandez was close to his father until his untimely death when the murder suspect was 16. Hernandez may have had ties to gangs, but he was not from the inner city–he grew up in a middle class neighborhood. Meanwhile, the NFL does not recruit players and caps agent commissions at 3%.
What is unclear in Rivera’s thinking is what he believes that the NFL should do about the problem and what the NFL has done to create the culture he describes.
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