Fox News
- Dan Bongino and Geraldo Rivera had another blowup on Fox News Wednesday night.
- Once Bongino began speaking, Rivera lost his temper, kicking off a series of antics and crosstalk.
- Rivera threw a wad of paper at the camera, called Bongino "a punk," and turned his back in protest.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
Just over a month after Fox News correspondent-at-large Geraldo Rivera called Dan Bongino a "son of a b—-" and "nothing but a punk," the duo butted heads again on "Hannity" Wednesday night.
Unlike the last time the Fox personalities blew up at each other, there was less of a buildup this time around.
-Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) May 20, 2021
Fox News host Sean Hannity kept cutting Rivera off as he tried to make a point about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with Hannity taking a staunchly pro-Israel stance while Rivera said it was "abhorrent" that Palestinian children died in bombings from Israeli Defense Forces retaliating against Hamas.
"I demand a cease-fire," Rivera said.
"I want Israel to win the war!" Hannity replied.
Once Bongino stepped in, the segment careened off the rails.
"Geraldo, you do this every time," Bongino said. "This is such garbage, and I'm really getting sick of it. You play this emotional game with the audience, and use your position of responsibility to put out misinformation and BS. You did it on the police thing-"
"You know, stop attacking me, punk!" Rivera said, cutting in. "Address the issue! Do you have the guts to address the issue? This is not about me. You didn't come on the show to attack me. You came on the show to talk about the issue. Do you have a point about the issue?"
Bongino kept trying to get a word in as Rivera grew increasingly frustrated, and eventually threw his notes at the camera.
"I'm sick of you, Bongino!" Rivera said. "I'm sick of you. You're a punk."
Bongino, speaking in a more measured tone, escalated things further by calling Rivera "an uncontrolled lunatic."
"I'm an out of control lunatic?" Rivera asked, cutting in once again when Bongino asked him to calm down.
"I'm a 10-time Emmy winner with deep experience in the Middle East. Have you ever even been there? ... I've covered every war since 1973," he went on to say.
As Bongino accused Rivera of not understanding that Hamas "does not want Israel to exist," Rivera turned his back to the camera in protest.
Hannity attempted to "calm the waters" by asking Rivera who he blames for firing the rockets first, which was more of a rhetorical question because Hannity insisted Israel has only responded to Hamas firing rockets at them.
Rivera tried to respond to Hannity by citing a recent raid by Israeli police on Jerusalem-based Al Aqsa, the third holiest Islamic site, during Ramadan as the catalyst for the most recent violence, but the segment only descended into further chaos.
After Hannity said "if I ever set foot in Gaza, I'd be dead," the pre-commercial music began playing the guests out.
"We're going to let it go," Hannity said as Bongino and Rivera continued shouting at each other.