Give Geraldo Rivera credit. He’s only relatively recently returned to the Fox News Channel, and he’s already causing a stir. Moments ago he appeared on Fox to discuss the Nathaniel Westian death of Anna Nicole Smith.
Geraldo didn’t mince any words. He went right for the jugular. He “surmised” that the cause of death in Smith’s case was going to be a methadone overdose just as it was in the case of her son Daniel on September 10. Then, he went so far as to point the finger of blame on Smith’s companion/husband/attorney Howard K. Stern, whom, he said, was the only person in the room in both instances.
Whatever happens in the case, these are stunning charges to make this early in the game and potentially legally actionable to my mind. Even Greta Van Susteren, herself no shrinking violet, gently chided Geraldo, I believe, saying Fox was lucky to have back somebody who wasn’t going to “sugercoat” things for American viewers.
Geraldo must surely remember what happened to Dominick Dunne. Dunne, a terrific crime writer, had to pay a significant settlement to Gary Condit after alleging Condit’s culpability in the death of Chandra Levy. This will be one to watch.
…Footnote: Now Fox has reporter Douglas Kennedy, a son of Robert F. Kennedy, on t.v. giving the facts of Smith’s life. Only in America could you find a Kennedy, never unacustomed to tabloid excesses nor to Dunne, opining on the death of a neo-Marilyn Monroe, Smith.
…Footnote 2: Here’s an Anna Nicole Smith conspiracy post out of Texas.
Dispatches from Seth Gitell 