Fox host tells Geraldo Rivera it's OK to tell him to “go back”: “I could say it to you”

Rivera: “What the hell? ... I've had 10 street fights based on that, someone saying to me because I'm Puerto Rican, 'Go back where you came from.'” 

From the July 19 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends

Video file

GERALDO RIVERA (FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT-AT-LARGE): Go back to where you came from is the old racist trope that all of us, ethnic or racial minorities, have grown up with at various times. It is unforgivable at this day and age, and I really lament that it came up. I'm glad the president has said what he said. And I think that the crowds -- if you love this president, then don't ever do that again at one of his rallies, because what you do is you diminish him. He is the glue that holds our republic together. He is the man that makes e pluribus unum work, out of many, one. We cannot ever fall back into that lazy kind of “the other” that we did for several days there.

PETE HEGSETH (GUEST CO-HOST): Geraldo but you, like many, have accused him of racism. But if you go back and look at that tweet, he's not talking about race, he's talking about whether or not you love this country and appreciate it. And if you don't appreciate it and don't love it, and don't want to work to make it better, then maybe you could consider going somewhere else. There's plenty of countries on Earth.

RIVERA: What the hell? Come on, Pete. This is their country. They're citizens of the United States.

HEGSETH: He was talking about in general abut the principles of our country. If you don't believe in it --

RIVERA: So what if someone said that to you, “If you don't like it you can leave.”

[CROSSTALK]

HEGSETH: Absolutely. They can say that to me. They can totally say that to me.

RIVERA: Intolerable. You cannot say that.

HEGSETH: You could totally say it.

RIVERA: You can't say it to me.

HEGSETH: Well, I could say it to you. 

RIVERA: I've had 10 street fights based on that, someone saying to me because I'm Puerto Rican, “Go back where you came from.” 

HEGSETH: Because I'm not looking at you. I'm not looking at the color of your skin.

RIVERA: I was born 17th street. This is where I came from.

HEGSETH: I'm looking at what you stand for and the principles of our country. White, Black, otherwise -- it's not about race. 

RIVERA: Once you make nationhood and citizenship like that conditional on your political loyalties, you run a very dangerous path there, major, and you should know that.

HEGSETH: Well, there's a lack of gratitude.

STEVE DOOCY (CO-HOST): Geraldo, what about the fact that --

RIVERA: A lot of people aren't grateful to be here. Gratitude is not a requirement of citizenship.

HEGSETH: Of course not, but -- 

Previously

White supremacists and right-wing media defend Trump’s racist attack on four members of Congress

Hannity on racist Trump rally chant: “I don't think they were saying ‘send her back’ as much as they're saying, ‘these views are repugnant’”

Mark Levin defends Trump's racist attacks on four Congresswomen: “Their families really have done nothing for this country”